


Sanctuary

by Deoris07



Category: B.A.P., EXO (Band), Infinite (Band), MBLAQ, Tasty (Band), U-KISS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural, Angst, Crossover, Drama, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2013-01-19
Packaged: 2017-11-21 19:54:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 31,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/601481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deoris07/pseuds/Deoris07
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Starring the members of EXO (all 12), most of U-KISS, Infinite (minus AJ, Hoon, Kiseop, and Sungjong), and the Tasty twins (Daeryong and Soryong), Sanctuary is set in the MAMA MV universe with the EXO boys having elemental powers and on the run from wars that devastated their twin planets. They find sanctuary (or so they think) on Earth with friends who have similar powers. Their adversaries, from MBLAQ and B.A.P. (minus Seungho and Youngjae) are intent on destroying EXO and anyone with them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> A rewriting of a role play between me and a friend (Deonara2012) with considerable changes and characters removed (and prologue added). 
> 
> Characters, powers, and relationships/roles:
> 
> EXOPLANET K: Leader: Suho (Water), Baekhyun (Light), Chanyeol - Kris' cousin (Phoenix/Fire), D.O. (Earth), Kai (Teleportation), Sehun (Wind)
> 
> EXOPLANET M: Leader: Kris - Chanyeol's cousin (Dragon/Flight), Xiumin (Ice/Frost), Luhan (Telekinesis/Telepathic imagery), Lay (Healing/Telepathy), Chen (Lightning), Tao (Time control)
> 
> (Tasty) Daeryong and Soryong - Kris' long-lost older brothers and Chanyeol's cousins (Dragon/Flight)
> 
> Their friends from Earth:  
> (From U-KISS) Leader: Soohyun (Light/can send a person to sleep), Kevin (Water/can control dreams), Eli (Air/Empathy), Dongho (Mind control)
> 
> (From Infinite) Leader: Sunggyu (Siren power), Dongwoo (Fire), Woohyun (Telepathy), Hoya (Earth), Sungyeol (Power augmentation), Myungsu (Ice)
> 
> Their enemies:  
> (From MBLAQ) Leader: G.O. - Suho's former leader (Siren power), Joon (Telepathy), Thunder - Chen's older brother (Thunder/Storm manipulation), Mir - Lay's former friend/colleague (Healing, though he hurts more than he heals)
> 
> (From B.A.P.) Leader: Yongguk - Suho's cousin (Water), Himchan - Baekhyun's older brother (Darkness), Daehyun - Kai's cousin (Teleportation), Jongup - Luhan's younger brother (Telepathy), Zelo - Sehun's younger brother (Command power (verbal))

Kim Jinyoung looked at her twin sons sadly. The older of the two, Daeryong, looked back at her quizzically.

“Why are you sending us away, Mother?” he asked, firmly grasping his younger twin’s hand. Soryong was doing his best to look stoic and determined, but didn’t quite manage it, tears in his eyes. “Can’t we stay here? I want to be with you and Wu Fan and Father…”

“I’m sorry, but this is what you must do, not just for the sake of our people, but for the sake of people you have yet to meet,” Jinyoung murmured, her heart breaking. She’d already been over this with her husband and with the others who fought with them. The wars had been going on for a while now, and to lose such promising young warriors when they were needed at home didn’t sit well with any of them, though they knew very well of the truth of her powers and her foreseeing. “You’ll be able to see Wu Fan again, so think about that, keep that in your hearts, and remember we will always love you…”

No matter what happened, they had to know they were loved and cherished, even when all seemed lost. “Now it’s time to go,” she added softly, gathering the twins into her arms for one last embrace before stepping back. “You have the box?”

“Yes, Mother,” Daeryong sighed, barely refraining from rolling his eyes. She’d asked him so many times over the past hour that it was getting tiresome. “I have the box, and it is safe. We’ll make sure of it.”

Giving the boys a warm smile, Jinyoung put her arm around her younger, and now only remaining son. “And one last thing,” she added, glancing at the younger boy. “When you see him next, Wu Fan’s name will be Kris, not Wu Fan, so you’ll have to remember that. Promise me…” She caught her sons’ eyes and they nodded soberly as they were led away by the teleporter who was to take them to their final destination.

“We won’t forget, Mother,” Soryong replied softly, looking back at his parents, and brother. “Farewell…”

Watching until the boys were no longer in sight, Jinyoung kept the smile on her face for as long as she could, then turned to her husband with tears in her eyes. “If you’ll excuse me,” she said quietly, willing her heart to stop breaking. “I need to be alone for a while…”

Nodding, her husband took Wu Fan’s hand and led him outside. “You’re due for some training,” he said, leaving Jinyoung alone in the house to mourn the fact that this would be the last time she ever saw her older sons. At least in this life, and on this planet.

But she knew they had an important task to fulfill, one that could mean the survival of not just Wu Fan, or Kris, as he would become known as, but the survival of the human race on a planet far from theirs, caught up in the aftermath of a war not of their making. Daeryong and Soryong would assist Kris in making sure Earth did not fall in the same way their planets eventually would, as she had foreseen.


	2. Chapter 1 - Exile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> EXO escape (barely) from their home planets and find new friends who help them.

All Kai could feel was pain. The young teleporter could feel his very being splintering as he tried to bring his friends, and those he’d learned to call his friends during the wars that had engulfed both home-worlds, to a new world, in search of someone who could help them. Just as he felt himself about to shatter, his soul slipping away from him, Kai felt the distinct sensation that told him they’d finally reached their destination. 

Feeling grass underneath his hands and knees, Kai heard the faint voice of their healer, Lay. “Sleep,” Lay murmured, and Kai willingly fell into the healer’s arms, his eyes closed and his body limp, his power completely drained. 

Passing the young teleporter to his leader, Suho’s, arms, Lay sighed softly and closed his eyes, desperation colouring his mind-voice. 

_Is there anyone who can help us?_ he asked. _Please, my name is Lay. If there’s anyone who can hear me, we desperately need your help._

Ignoring the murmured voices around him until the dizzy spell passed, Lay opened his eyes and surveyed the group that surrounded him, dismay filling him. How were they going to survive this? He was only one person, and their only healer, at that. With so many injured, and badly, at that… Quickly assessing the worst of the injured, he turned to the light-user, Baekhyun, and the dragon, Kris, both young men unconscious with ugly-looking sword wounds that bled profusely. Passing his hands over them, Lay did what he could for them with what energy he had left, shivering as he then turned to Kris’ cousin, the Phoenix, Chanyeol. 

“I’m not sure what I can do for you,” he murmured, holding his hands out. “But I’ll still try…” 

Chanyeol shook his head, pushing Lay’s hands away, though he shivered uncontrollably. “There’s nothing you can do for me,” he replied apologetically. “This is not something you can heal. Only time can do that, I’m afraid.” He looked over at Luhan, the unconscious young telekinetic being supported by the youngest members of both groups, Sehun and Tao. “Luhan needs you more than I do.”

About to protest, Lay was startled when Chen put an arm around his waist and pulled him away from Chanyeol. “But make sure you don’t overdo it,” he murmured softly into Lay’s ear. “We can’t afford to lose you, you know that.”

“I know that, but I have to do something,” Lay replied as he tried to pull away from Chen to attempt to heal Luhan, his hands shaking. “I can’t just sit here…” He was grateful Chanyeol understood and that he would hopefully be ok without his help, but Luhan, on the other hand… “But I don’t know what’s wrong with Luhan, so I don’t know if I can even do anything, though I’ll still try…” 

Kneeling next to Tao and opposite Sehun, the two young men cradling Luhan between them, Lay began to work, though it soon became apparent that it was too much for his over-taxed body. 

“Chen, stop him!” Suho shouted, his arms still full of the unconscious teleporter, making him feel helpless. “You’re an idiot, Yixing. You’re lucky my hands are full and that Kris is unconscious or you’d-”

Chen reached for Lay just as the healer fell forward, his energy giving out on him, causing him to faint. “What did I just tell you?” he snapped, his arms full of limp healer. “We can’t afford to lose you!”

Frustrated and scared, Suho wasn’t sure what to do anymore. “Is anyone going to help us?” he asked, looking around despairingly. 

“Someone has to, right?” Chanyeol murmured, huddled in on himself as he tried to get warm, though he privately felt as if he’d never ever be warm again. “We can’t be the only ones here with power?”

“Give them some time,” Xiumin murmured from where he knelt beside Tao. “Hopefully someone will have heard us, and someone close, but they have to have time.”

Sehun glanced at Tao. “Is there any way you could-” 

“No,” Tao said bluntly, his eyes hard. “If I stop time for us, it’ll stop time for whoever could be trying to find us, so no. I can’t do it. Do you really only have air in your head?” 

“That wasn’t fair, Zitao,” Sehun replied, a hurt look in his eyes. “I was just making a suggestion. I’m trying to think of ways to help.” 

“Stupid ways,” Tao muttered, ignoring the angry glances Suho was sending him, though he sighed when Xiumin put a warning hand on his back. 

“That was uncalled for,” Chen said coldly, then turned to D.O., ignoring Tao completely and not caring that Tao turned his back on him, intent on doing the same. “Is there any way you can make a shelter here that wouldn’t strain the earth too much?”

The young earth-user’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he got to his feet and began to pace the small area of parkland where Kai had brought them. 

“I could try, I suppose,” he murmured eventually. “But what kind of shelter do you need? I could try something small if Suho can help me put the earth back how it was after…”

Glancing at Suho, Chen shrugged apologetically. “I don’t really know,” he replied. “It was just a thought, because it’s going to get cold soon and we’re going to need somewhere if we’re going to stay here.” He looked down at the healer, still unmoving in his arms, and sighed. “But maybe it’s better if you don’t waste your strength. We don’t know if we’ll need it later.” 

 

Woohyun was on his way to dance practice with Hoya when he staggered and reached out to grab onto Hoya abruptly, the younger man’s eyes widening. 

“What the hell…?” 

He struggled to reach out, to grab onto the person who’d made the faint call for help, what little he could feel from the young man not making much sense to him at all. Not that he was going to ignore it; they never ignored calls for help. Finally able to focus, Woohyun reached out again. 

_Where are you? My name is Woohyun. In order for us to help you, you need to tell us where you are…_

Hoya blinked at Woohyun but knew better than to disturb him, knowing the signs of telepathic communication well by now. Letting the other man hold onto him, he waited patiently for Woohyun to finish. 

Lay gasped and struggled to sit up as Chen’s arms tightened around him. “What do you think you’re doing?” Chen asked worriedly. “You need to rest.”

“No, you don’t understand. Someone replied to me,” Lay replied weakly, disoriented by the unfamiliar voice that had awakened him. “They’re willing to help but… Where are we?” 

As the others looked around blankly, Lay replied to the voice… Woohyun’s voice, in his mind. 

_I don’t know_ , he said, slightly panicked and still disoriented. He knew he probably shouldn’t be doing this; he didn’t have the strength but he was the only one who could other than Luhan, and he was still unconscious. _Please, we have injured amongst us, some of them seriously… We don’t know your world._

Our… Shit. Woohyun muttered under his breath as he turned to Hoya. “I need Sungyeol,” he said urgently. “And everyone else. They’re injured, some of them badly, he said.” 

He’d explain about the rest of it later, when they had the time. He closed his eyes as Hoya disappeared to carry out his request, noting that Lay’s comment helped make his own observations make sense. They weren’t from here, and some of them were injured. _Ok, we’ll help, but I need to know where you are. I’m getting some others here. When they arrive, will you let me see through your eyes?_

Lay stiffened at the request, worrying Chen even more as he tightened his arms around the healer. “Lay?” he murmured. “I don’t know where we are. Does anyone…?” 

D.O. smiled faintly, the startled expression never leaving his face. “We’re in a park in the middle of the city,” he murmured softly. “That’s what the earth tells me. By a river called Han.” He shrugged when Suho and Xiumin looked at him blankly. “That’s all the earth knows.” 

“Well, tell him that then,” Suho said, his temper starting to wear thin, though he held on as best he could. “What D.O. said.”

_We’re in a park in a city by a river called Han, D.O. says the earth tells him_ , Lay relayed to Woohyun just as Sungyeol and Myungsu arrived, the older man smirking. 

“Hoya’s getting the others, but it might be a while,” he told Woohyun with a grin. “Sunggyu doesn’t believe him, so you’re going to have to explain. He said you wanted me…” He glanced at his boyfriend, his grin growing wider. “Or rather, us, so here we are. What’s up?”

“What’s up is that we’ve had a call for help,” Woohyun said tiredly, rubbing at his forehead. At least Sungyeol’s grin dropped at that. “Some of them are badly injured but I need to find out where they are, and to do that, I need your help. Are you going to, or are you just going to stand there?” 

“Don’t talk,” Sungyeol murmured, taking Woohyun’s arm. “Just do what you have to do.” They never ignored calls for help. “I’ll help wherever I can, you know that.” 

_There are quite a few parks by the river_ , Woohyun replied to Lay. _How many of you are there and how many of you are hurt? May I see? Can you look around and show me?_

Sighing, Lay replied. _There are 12 of us, and about half of us are hurt, including me, because I’m their healer and I’m almost out of energy._

Deciding it would take energy he didn’t have to fight Woohyun’s request, Lay focused and opened his mind to Woohyun, and let the stranger see through his eyes, looking around at their surroundings so they’d be able to find them, and at the injured so he could see exactly what they were facing and what they needed. It didn’t take long for his vision to start fading at the edges and he let go, collapsing into Chen’s arms, oblivious to the chaos he’d just caused with his collapse. 

_I’m sorry, I’ve done all I can…_

“Lay?” Chen gasped, frightened when the healer collapsed again, his shout loud and panicked enough to catch the others’ attention. “Lay!” 

Suho laid Kai on the grass next to Tao and Sehun and quickly moved over to Chen’s side, not liking the expression on the younger man’s face, or Lay’s laboured breathing and pallid skin colour. This wasn’t a good sign at all. 

“He’s overdone it,” he said quietly, D.O., Sehun, and Tao gasping with shock at his words. “If the people he’s found to help don’t get here soon, he’s going to die.” And then they’d be screwed. “Yixing, come on. You can’t do this…” 

Forgetting his earlier temper tantrum and moodiness, Tao left Luhan with Sehun and crawled over to where Chen still held Lay. Lay couldn’t die. He wouldn’t allow it. 

“Yixing, you’re not going to die. I refuse to allow it,” he said, his voice and expression intense. “I’ll stop everything if I have to, but you’re not going to die!”

“Can’t you just stop him?” Chen demanded. Of all they’d lost, not another one… “Please, Tao…”

D.O. hovered anxiously over Baekhyun’s still body, his hand clasping the young light-user’s as gently as he could. His eyes were wide with worry as he bit at his lip, watching the others milling around Lay. If they lost Lay, what would happen to Baekhyun? Or Kris? Or Luhan, for that matter. If anything happened to Lay, Luhan would go crazy, and that was if he even survived this.

Both Tao and Suho were becoming more and more concerned about Lay’s condition, and Tao suddenly cried out, almost yanking the healer from Chen’s arms and laying him on the grass.

“Put him down and get back, now,” he ordered, waving his hands to force them all back and out of the way, his eyes filling with tears as he saw Lay’s eyes half-open, an almost dreamy look on his face. “Yixing, you’re not going to die. I won’t allow it!” 

“It’s… ok… Zitao,” Lay murmured, his breathing growing harsher with every moment as Tao shook his head desperately. “You’ll be… fine. Help… is coming. Tell Sehun… to send me… somewhere nice… ok?” 

“NO!” Tao screamed, his left hand passing over Lay’s eyes to close them as his other hand slammed down, stopping just short of the healer’s chest.

The others gasped as they felt time skip for a moment before resuming, for everyone but Lay, the healer lying unmoving on the grass in front of Tao. An oddly distorted effect shimmered around him, though it looked almost as if he’d been too late; Lay’s body lay unmoving, his chest still. 

“Is he… What did you do to him?” Sehun asked, his voice rising with grief and pain, his emotions mirrored on the faces around him. “He’s dead, isn’t he? Tao!”

“What did you…?” Chen grabbed Tao’s arm and moved closer to look at Lay’s body. “You only stopped him, right?”

Xiumin scrambled over from where he knelt beside Luhan to look at Lay as well, inspecting the distortion with a frown. “Are you sure…?” he started, then cut himself off, looking up. “Never mind. It looks fine to me…” 

Tao bit his lip painfully as the tears threatened to spill over. He’d never done anything like this before, so he had no way of telling… “I hope I’ve stopped him,” he murmured softly, his head down. Sehun’s accusation had hurt. “I’ve never tried this before, so I don’t know…” 

Suho moved to hug the younger man as he burst into tears. 

“Chen, Xiumin, and I believe in you,” he murmured as Tao buried his head in his chest. “And I’m sure Kris would too.” He looked over at where the other leader lay, bruised, bloody, and still unconscious, but alive thanks to Lay’s sacrifice, something he was sure Kris was going to kill him for (verbally) later. “I think he’d be happy that you’re doing all you can to keep Lay alive…” 

“I believe in you too,” D.O. said stubbornly, pouting at Sehun. “And I think we all would have felt it if Lay died.” He looked down. “The earth would have told me, at the very least.”

Sniffling, Sehun sighed. “I’m sorry, Tao,” he apologised, rocking Luhan a little, though more in an attempt at comforting himself than anything else. “I shouldn’t have said what I did, even in over-reaction. I’m sorry…” 

“He will be ok, right?” This time he looked at Suho. “We all will, won’t we?” As the youngest, and yet as one of those with heavy responsibility on his shoulders, Sehun felt close to breaking. “I just want to go home…” 

“You did great,” Chen added his voice to the others, his throat dry. “You can only try…” 

Xiumin pressed a hand to Tao’s back but didn’t say anything, unable to find anything that would add to what the others had already said. Instead, he concentrated on the here and now. 

“Sehun, you and D.O., keep an ear out,” he said quietly. “For anyone coming. Between you, you should be able to hear when they get close.” He glanced between the two in question, who nodded back at him, relieved to have something to do. 

Sehun was glad to have something to take his mind off what was going on, and unfocused his eyes, listening to the wind. If anyone came close, he would hear about it and be able to tell the others, and if necessary, warn them. D.O. nodded as well, letting go of Baekhyun’s hand and getting to his feet, going to stand a little ways off so he could concentrate on what the earth was telling him. 

 

Woohyun reeled as he saw through Lay’s eyes, the tension in his body starting to worry the two with him. 

“Shit,” he murmured, leaning on Sungyeol as disorientation hit when he lost contact with Lay. “There are 12 of them. Two of them looked like they were in a knife fight, and at least three others looked…” He sighed and rubbed at his face. “Completely and utterly drained. We’re going to need Soohyun and his group too…” 

“The guy I talked to was their healer and he’s probably out now as well,” he added, pulling Myungsu closer. “We’re going to have to be careful with them. They’re not from here.” Both Sungyeol and Myungsu gave Woohyun odd looks as he emphasised the fact that the ones they were going to help were strangers. 

“We got that part,” Myungsu murmured, his eyes dancing with amusement despite the seriousness of the situation. He sobered as Hoya arrived with an annoyed-looking Sunggyu and a curious Dongwoo in tow, looking exasperated. 

“Here, tell them what you told me,” Hoya told Woohyun, his arms crossed in front of his chest. “He won’t believe me.” 

Sighing, Woohyun took a deep breath as Sunggyu looked at him expectantly. 

“Ok, someone contacted me for help,” he explained tiredly. “Five…no, six, are unconscious, two with knife wounds and three utterly drained.” When Sunggyu’s eyebrows rose, he continued. “The one who contacted me was their healer, who is most likely unconscious now. They looked pretty bad, Gyu, and there were 12 of them. We’re going to have to call Soohyun.” 

“Twelve?” Sunggyu said, startled. “Where are they all?”

“In a park, somewhere not far away from here, but far enough that we’ll need every car we can muster up between us and Soohyun’s lot,” Woohyun replied, raking a hand through his hair. “As I said, there are injured with them, so we’re going to have to move quickly and carefully.”

“I see,” Sunggyu murmured thoughtfully. “Dongwoo, get on to Soohyun and see if he’ll meet us. The rest of you, let’s get ready to move out. Now.” Nodding, the rest of the group filed out to their cars to wait for Dongwoo so they could go find these young men who needed their help. 

 

The drive out to the park seemed to take forever, especially when they had to coordinate between Soohyun and his group’s drivers as well, and Woohyun was a nervous wreck before they got even halfway to the park he’d seen, distorted, through Lay’s eyes. He fidgeted, trying to think about where they were, and trying not to freak out at the thought that these young men were from another planet that they most likely had never even heard of, much less knew anything about. Who knew what other secrets they held? 

“Hyung, calm down,” Myungsu murmured, outwardly calm and cool, like the ‘ice prince’ nickname he’d long since earned and wore like a badge of honour. “We’ll find them and Sungyeollie will restore some of their power…”

Woohyun sighed. “You don’t… They’re not from here,” he said, frustrated. 

Sunggyu frowned. “What does that even mean?” he asked, keeping his eyes on the road. “Not from Seoul? Not from Korea…?”

“Not from Earth,” Woohyun replied brusquely. “So be careful, ok?” He wouldn’t admit it, but he felt somewhat protective of these newcomers, especially given how badly injured some of them had appeared, and the sheer relief in Lay’s voice when he found out there was someone who could hear him and even more importantly, help them, hadn’t been fake. He was sure of it. But convincing the others… 

Hoya blinked, sitting back in his seat and looking at Woohyun reproachfully. “You didn’t mention that before,” he commented, going to stare out the window in shock at his friend’s statement. “How do you know it’s not just someone messing with us? They could be kids with powers, or crazy, or something…”

He couldn’t help but be suspicious until they knew more about these strangers who had contacted Woohyun.

Sungyeol blinked at the new information, then grinned to himself. This could be fun, but he’d have to be careful. If Sunggyu got even the slightest hint of what he had in mind, he’d be shut down so fast it wouldn’t be funny. But at the same time, an odd chill went down his spine at the thought of aliens, here, on Earth and needing their help. Just who were these people, and what were they running from that was so bad that they needed all the help they could give them?

Myungsu’s eyes narrowed, but he remained silent. He’d watch and make his own mind up based on observations, and then act accordingly. That was how he always did things, and he wasn’t about to change that now. 

“I didn’t have time,” Woohyun replied wearily. “How do I know? Because he felt different. Not like us. Not even like Soohyun or Kevin, and while they give me the creeps sometimes, they’re definitely from Earth.” He shrugged. “I don’t know how else to explain it. You’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Are you sure about that?” Sungyeol muttered in answer to Woohyun’s statement about Soohyun and Kevin. “Sometimes I wonder…” 

“Whatever you’re thinking, don’t,” Sunggyu said, having seen Sungyeol’s creepy smile through the rear-view mirror. “You’re not going to play any practical jokes on these people, is that clear?” 

Sungyeol stared at him in shock before narrowing his eyes sullenly. “How do you even _do_ that?” he complained, sulking now that his fun had been spoiled. “I wouldn’t do anything to hurt them.”

“I don’t get to have any fun anymore,” he pouted to Hoya, who just looked at him mildly, then turned his attention back out the window, which was safer, all things considered. 

“Because I know you, Sungyeol,” Sunggyu replied with all the patience he could muster up on such short notice. “And what is funny to you might not be to them. If they’re not from here, as Woohyun said, they might not take kindly to your brand of fun.” He sighed. “You don’t know what they could or would do to you in retaliation and we just can’t take that chance.” 

Sungyeol knew Sunggyu was right, but he still pouted at being denied his fun. 

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough,” Hoya remarked, looking at the cars ahead of them. “Aren’t those Soohyun’s group’s cars ahead of us? And aren’t we almost there now?” He could see the park coming up, though whoever was there was hidden by the trees. They had to be closer to the river than the road, something of a small blessing; it meant nobody else knew they were there, ripe for the picking. 

“Yes,” Woohyun murmured, starting to feel nervous. 

“Do you know exactly where they are?” Sunggyu asked, parking beside Soohyun and getting out of the car, greeting the older man warmly as Woohyun nodded. 

“Someone’s very nervous,” Eli murmured, looking out over the park to a small group of people, some of them on the ground, others standing around in a circle and looking warily in their direction. That had to be them. “Just…be careful.” 

“I think it should be just me, Sunggyu, and Soohyun for now,” Woohyun murmured softly. “I don’t want to scare or overwhelm them if they’re already that wary of us. I’ll let you know when it’s ok to come over, all right?”

Looking at the others for confirmation, Woohyun steeled himself, waiting for the others before setting off across the park towards the small group. 

Following Woohyun and Sunggyu’s lead, Soohyun trailed behind them a little, trying to project a calming, peaceful aura. With what Eli had said about them being nervous, and what Woohyun had mentioned about there being injured people with them… They also looked frightened, and it worried him. 

 

Sehun’s head snapped up. “Lots of transportation, headed this way,” he reported breathlessly, feeling his heart begin to pound in his chest. “I hope they’re nice…” 

Suho looked up, releasing Tao, whose eyes were darkly shadowed. “Get everyone together,” he said quietly, getting to his feet. “Defensive positions around Lay, just in case.”

“Stay there and keep an eye on him,” Xiumin ordered Tao, gesturing to Lay as he stood up and faced forward. The others formed around them and waited nervously for the strangers Lay had summoned to arrive. 

“Suho, if they look even remotely threatening, say something,” Xiumin murmured, looking at the young leader, who nodded calmly. “D.O., you too.” Feeling them all reach for their elements and powers, he shivered. To have three of their strongest out like this wasn’t good, but they’d have to make do somehow. They had no choice. 

“They mean no harm,” Sehun murmured a few moments later as they waited for the three men who walked warily towards them. The wind ruffled his hair calmly. “The wind is calm and quiet, no threats…” 

D.O. nodded, though he remained tense. “There’s another earth power here,” he murmured in surprise. “He’s wary of us, but not threatening or angry…” He looked over at Suho and Xiumin. “Surely that has to be a good thing?” 

"Is there?" Xiumin murmured softly, his eyes on the strangers. "That's good. Then they won't think we're completely insane."

Suho waited, standing a little in front of the group to give the distinction that he was one of the leaders as the trio approached cautiously. "Xiumin," he said quietly, worried what Tao might do if he felt provoked. "Watch Tao."

Nodding, Xiumin knelt next to the younger man and put a steadying hand on his back, dividing his attention between Tao and the approaching strangers. He would make sure Tao was kept under control, no matter what he had to do to ensure it.

Woohyun stopped a distance away from the wary young men, his hands held out to show he didn't have any weapons, uncertain of what to do next. He'd belatedly realised they might not even speak the same language, though they had to have something in common for him to have been able to speak with and understand Lay. 

"My name is Woohyun," he began in a calm, quiet voice. "I spoke to your healer, Lay, though I think he might be unconscious now. We've come to offer our help, if you'll let us..."

Watching as the strangers stopped several metres away, Suho nodded, his expression bleak. 

"Lay...will die without immediate help," he replied, ignoring Tao's outraged hiss. He glanced over at where Tao and Xiumin knelt next to Lay's body, the distortion clearly visible. "We have others who are badly injured, but they can be moved. He can't, not without it killing him. And we need him."

"I won't let Yixing die!" Tao burst out angrily, his chin lifted in defiance, the look in his eyes not entirely sane. "No matter what anyone says or does." 

Xiumin took Tao's arm. "Gently," he murmured, now focused completely on the younger man after his outburst. "Gently. Let them help." He looked up as one of them began to walk closer, drawn by the need to help. "They'll need your help to make sure nothing goes wrong, so please, Tao, stay calm."

Sungyeol started to walk forward, the pull on his power almost irresistible. He resisted as much as he could, not being able to hear what was going on, until the need to help became too strong and he headed towards the fallen healer.

"I can help," he said almost desperately as soon as he got close enough for them to be able to hear him. The desperation in his voice startled even himself, but he didn't let that stop him. "Please. He needs what I can give him..."

"Sungyeol," Myungsu murmured, though his eyes were on Xiumin. Another power like his, here? Though subtly different. "Be careful, please..." 

Hoya was just as disconcerted; there was another earth power here, one who was as strong, if not stronger, as he was. Not about to be intimidated on home soil, as it were, Hoya remained watchful and wary, though he didn't move or say anything. He was going to wait for Woohyun's signal, even if it killed him. 

"Tell the others to come help," Xiumin told Suho, who hovered in indecision, his grip on Tao tightening before he could protest. "Better them than someone who has no idea, and we need what they can give us." They were all exhausted, tense and ready to snap, and with the one who'd already come, and others who looked like they were ready to break ranks... He could feel there were more who were willing to help and that gave him hope. "Please, Suho..." 

Xiumin ignored the odd calling of power to power until he knew he had the leisure to sort it out, his attention too stretched to with having to deal with Suho, the others, and Tao. If he had to, he'd knock the kid out, but he hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Dongwoo drifted across the grass, feeling the faint call of one like him. He shivered; something was wrong that he couldn't quite pin-point and hoped he would never have to, but it made him feel like he had to help somehow. If he could only work out which one of them it was he had to help. There were just so many of them... 

"Hyung, what are you doing?" Hoya called out in dismay as Dongwoo wandered off, biting at his lip as he wondered whether or not to go after him. Someone had to look after him if he wasn't going to do it himself. Giving a long-suffering sigh, Hoya glanced at Myungsu and set off after the older man, his jaw set. "Dongwoo-hyung!" 

"It seems they're coming on their own," Suho said wryly, turning his attention from Xiumin back to Woohyun. "Please tell your friends it's ok," he said to the other man earnestly. "We need your help and won't turn you away." He chuckled softly. "Some of them are coming already, but please call the others. We won't hurt you..." 

Woohyun sent out a blanket call to the others to come closer, then turned back to the one who seemed to be the leader. "Sungyeol can help your healer, if you'll let him," he said quietly. "But the rest, we'll probably have to move them, for now, until we can work out what to do with them." 

Suho sighed unhappily. He didn't want to have to move them at all if he could help it, and with a group their size... But at the same time, splitting them up just wasn't an option either. 

"My name is Suho," he told Woohyun and the two others. "I'm the leader of one group of us, while Kris," he gestured to the other man, unconscious and bloody on the grass, "Is the leader of the other group of us."

"This is Sunggyu," Woohyun introduced the others, motioning to his boyfriend. "He's the leader of the group I belong to. And this is Soohyun, who is the leader of the other group who came with us to help." 

The other men nodded at the introductions, Soohyun smiling warmly, Sunggyu's smile a little stiff and uncomfortable. 

"We're going to have to split you up to move you," Sunggyu murmured, sighing as Suho stiffened. "We don't really have any choice. Our cars just aren't big enough for that many people, Suho." 

"But we'll try and find somewhere to put you all, so that you're not all over the place," Soohyun continued smoothly, trying to make the other leader relax. "At least for now. But you do realise how hard it's going to be. I'm sorry..." 

Kevin had been standing behind Soohyun, his gaze focused on Suho; their powers were similar, if not quite the same, and the young man intrigued him. 

"You could try the basement room in Dongwoo's apartment block," he suggested with a small smile, making Sunggyu start warily. "It might be big enough, temporarily." 

"How do you..." Sunggyu shook his head. He didn't want to know. _Hyun, could you ask Dongwoo if he could call his landlord and ask if we could use the basement room he uses for practices to put these kids in, even if it's just for tonight?_ he asked, startled yet again when Woohyun answered him out loud. 

"I'll ask him, but I don't know if he's going to let go of that kid he's got his arms around," Woohyun replied in amusement, inclining his head at the sight of Dongwoo with his arms wrapped around a shivering Chanyeol, who looked pathetically grateful. "I don't think he's going to let go of your firestarter any time soon..." 

Firestarter? Suho looked confused for a moment, then shook his head. "Chanyeol's not a firestarter," he murmured, looking at the pair with an odd expression on his face. "He's a phoenix. But he can control fire, if that's what you mean?" 

Soohyun's eyebrows went up in disbelief at the same time as Woohyun and Sunggyu's jaws dropped in shock. "A phoenix?" he asked, surprised, the disbelief plain in his voice. "I'm sorry, but that's... He's just a kid!" 

"I'm sorry we're just kids to you, but I promise you, he is a phoenix," Suho said stiffly, sadness in his eyes. "And we're all that's left of our planets..." 

Planets? Filing that thought away for another time, Soohyun sought to repair the damage he'd inadvertently done. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult or offend you," he said quietly. "I'm just surprised. Your powers are so...different. And you're all so young to have such responsibilities..."

Shrugging, Suho repeated what he'd said moments earlier. "We're the only ones left," he said sadly. "The others have destroyed our planets. There's nothing left. That's why we had to come here, before they killed us too." 

 

Dongwoo chuckled. "It's ok, Hoya," he called back as he finally got close enough to identify where the pull was coming from, bouncing up to the tall blond who was shivering uncontrollably. "Hi, I'm Dongwoo. I think I can help you, is that ok?" He put his arms around the young man and the shivering instantly lessened. 

"Chanyeol," Chanyeol replied, his miserable expression brightening at the warmth as he curled himself around the shorter man. "And you're so warm..." The sense of relief was so palpable that they could both feel it, the warmth transferring from Dongwoo to Chanyeol and helping to control his shivering. "Thank you..."

Laughing softly, Dongwoo gently lowered him until they were sitting on the ground. "Not a problem, happy to help," he replied with a smile, leaning against Chanyeol. 

Xiumin glanced at Tao as Sungyeol nervously reached them and knelt beside him to look at Lay. "Are you going to be ok with this?" he asked softly as Tao stiffened. 

"It's not like I have any choice in the matter," Tao replied bitterly, looking away. "We need Lay." 

Sungyeol glanced over at Luhan and Kai, then bit his lip. His priority was the healer. Then he'd see if he had anything left over for the other two who he could tell needed his help. 

"I need you to let him go when I give you the signal," he murmured, ignoring the other man's stony glare. He was used to it; he got worse from Myungsu at times. Shifting closer to the distortion that surrounded Lay, he nodded. "Ok, I'm ready now." 

Unprepared for the mental flip he got when Tao dropped the time controls around the healer, Sungyeol fought back the nausea and immediately began to pour all the power he could spare into Lay's body, going slowly to avoid overloading the dying healer and inadvertently killing him. When Lay's breathing and skin colour returned to normal, Sungyeol stopped the power transfer and sat back on his heels, breathing heavily. This was a lot harder than it looked and he still had to fight back the nausea caused by the dropping of the time distortion. 

"Sorry," Tao murmured, nearly giving Sungyeol a heart attack as he spoke up unexpectedly from beside the young man, giving him a somewhat sheepishly apologetic glance when he realised what he'd done. "Didn't realise it would do that, and I didn't mean to scare you. Thank you for your help... You saved Lay's life."

Smiling and nodding, Sungyeol turned his attention to Luhan and Kai, who were laying on the grass a few metres away, Sehun still holding onto Luhan as if for dear life. "I'm not sure which of your friends needs me more," he murmured, looking from one to the other with dismay. "I don't know how much more-"

Tao interrupted him, pushing him at Luhan with desperation in his eyes. "Lay wasn't able to do much before he collapsed and he needs it more," he said stubbornly as Sehun looked on in bemusement. "Please help Luhan."

Xiumin rolled his eyes at Sehun. "Never know which way he'll flip," he muttered under his breath, but he could feel the tension draining from Tao as he spoke and carefully let him go. "Just don't do anything threatening..." he added softly.

Glaring at Xiumin, Tao pulled away. "Lay is safe. Luhan will be. I will be fine once I know they will be..." he said, glancing over to where Kris laid, his expression tired. "Duizhang needs to wake up."

Having done what he could, Sungyeol sat back, exhausted, and swept his hair from his eyes. "I've done what I can," he said tiredly, smiling at Sehun and the others. "Your friend will recover soon..." He glanced at Kai regretfully. "I'm sorry I can't do any more..."

Looking up at Tao and startled when he saw tears in his eyes, he was hasty to get to his feet (albeit shakily) to try and reassure him. "He won't die," he said as quietly as he could, startled once again when Tao shook his head. 

Tao glanced over to where a blond man with a bright smile held Chanyeol, noticing how he looked happier than he had done in a long time. He then looked over at D.O., who stood off to the side, another man standing beside them. Neither of them spoke, but Tao had the distinct feeling they didn't need to. Suho was talking to Sungyeol's friend, Woohyun, as well as two others Tao didn't know, with a third man watching from not far away. 

"We're grateful to you and your friends," he said tiredly, sighing. "We've come so far, and lost so much that if we lost them too..." Tao didn't even want to contemplate that. "On behalf of everyone, thank you, for your help..."

He then turned to glare at a man who had been hovering nearby and watching both him and Xiumin (and Sungyeol) with a lot more intensity than Tao was comfortable with. "What do you want?" he demanded, trying (and failing) to keep his tone polite, looking completely exasperated when Sungyeol burst into laughter. "Well?"

Xiumin snorted and rolled his eyes. "See? No telling," he sighed. 

"Don't worry about Myungsu," Sungyeol laughed. "He's mostly harmless." 

Chen looked at Sungyeol in confusion from where he'd all but collapsed next to Lay, relieved that the older man wasn't dying anymore and would be healed. "Mostly harmless?" he asked. "What does that even mean, mostly harmless..." 

"Less harmless than me," Xiumin murmured, turning to look at the man warily, though at the same time, with interest. This was the man he'd felt earlier, the one with similar powers to his. "You're... ice?"

Myungsu smirked at Tao as he answered the questions the others had asked, moving even closer and noticing how the strangers moved slightly away from him. Still wary. Woohyun would have to know about this, as would Sunggyu and Soohyun. 

"Ice, yes," he replied, not surprised the other man knew his power. He knew his as well; like called to like. "And so are you, aren't you?" As well as a few other things...

Blinking at Myungsu, Xiumin wasn't sure what to say as the man turned to answer Chen's question. 

"What he means is that I can kill without my power, and so can our Earth power, Hoya." He nodded to the man standing beside D.O., then turned to look at both Tao and Xiumin carefully. "But so can you, can you not?" he asked softly. He had to be very careful. "Martial artists are not rare here, and I can tell by the way you move..." 

 

_Dongwoo-hyung?_ Woohyun asked, grinning when Dongwoo flinched from the other side of the group where he sat with Chanyeol. _Gyu wants to know if you could call your landlord and ask him if we could use that basement room you use for practice, for these kids to stay in, even if just for tonight..._

Looking up and glaring at Woohyun when he startled him by speaking into his mind without warning, Dongwoo sighed and nodded, giving him a thumbs-up and letting go of Chanyeol with one arm to pull out his phone, the younger man oblivious to everything around him in his desperate need to be warm. 

Quickly making the call, he cajoled his landlord into letting him use the room "for his friends to stay in, so he wouldn't have a trashed apartment" and after promising that it would be as tidy as it had been when they first got there, the landlord agreed, even going as far as throwing in a few blankets and mattresses to help once he heard some of them "weren't feeling well". Thanking the man profusely, Dongwoo hung up and grinned widely, waving his arm at Woohyun again to catch his attention. 

_What, Hyung?_ Woohyun asked, hoping it was good news. Suho hadn't been happy about any of the other suggestions (not that they'd had many to start with) and they were running out of options. 

_Got the kids a place to stay, and Landlord-sshi is even throwing in some mattresses and blankets for them_ , Dongwoo said excitedly, making Woohyun wince. _Shame I couldn't get him to feed them too, but can't have everything. And anyway, isn't that your specialty?_ he teased. 

Glaring at Dongwoo again and giving a long-suffering sigh, Woohyun turned back to the conversation which had been going on without him for the past few minutes, as Suho gave him odd looks. 

"Dongwoo said the landlord is fine with it, and is giving them bedding as well, so we don't have to worry so much about that," he reported, much to Suho's (and the others') relief. "So now we just have to work out how to split them up to get them there." 

Sighing deeply, Suho looked uncomfortable. "I'd rather not split any of them up at all," he murmured unhappily, "But I know we have no choice." 

Soohyun and Sunggyu nodded. 

"We should go as soon as we can, really," Kevin added, startling Suho; he'd almost forgotten the other man who'd been standing there all along. "We risk calling attention to ourselves and we can't afford that right now. I have my car... I'm Kevin by the way." He waved to Eli who was still standing by the cars, a forced smile on his face as he waved back. "But Eli will have to go with someone who isn't hurt, or hurting as much, if that makes any sense." 

He turned to Suho, who looked baffled. "He's an empath," he explained. "That's why he's still over there and not here. He can feel what you guys are feeling, and with so many of you, and injured ones... It can't be very pleasant for him." 

"Oh, I'm sorry," Suho murmured, looking apologetically in Eli's direction. "We didn't mean-" 

"It's ok," Soohyun interrupted him gently. "He understands and so do we. We had to help you, and he volunteered..." He sighed fondly. "Anyway, Kevin's right. We should go soon..." 

Sunggyu turned to Woohyun. "Can you tell them all to get ready to move out now?" he asked, giving a tired smile as Woohyun nodded. 

_Get ready to go, guys_ , he told the others, looking around to make sure they'd all heard and understood. He looked at Sunggyu and nodded. "Ok, they've been told and know what to do..." 

Chen looked up worriedly when the leaders started to head over to them. "What's going on?" he asked warily, sitting up and leaning protectively over Lay as he realised something was going on. 

"We're getting ready to go now," Sungyeol said gently, looking around to see who he could help. His eyes fell on Kris, the tall blond making him sigh. There was no way any of the others could take him, so he'd have to. "I'll take this one..." 

"Duizhang," Tao and Xiumin both murmured, then glanced at each other and chuckled softly. "Kris," Xiumin said in a louder voice. "Our leader." 

"Ah," Sungyeol replied, sighing again as he looked at Tao, then at Xiumin. "They sure make them tall on your planet, don't they?" 

"Mostly," Xiumin said wryly as he shared a look with Chen. "But yes, we need to help get the others..." He looked around. "I'll take Luhan. Tao, you take Kai..." 

Tao gave Xiumin an evil glare. "I'm taking Lay," he said firmly, standing by the healer's body as if daring anyone to touch him. "Anyone who touches him without my say will get frozen." 

Xiumin stared back at him, his lips turning up into a smirk. So he thought he could pull that, did he? Moving quickly, Xiumin knelt and picked up Lay's unconscious body, standing still with the healer in his arms, a challenge in his eyes as Tao blinked at him in surprise. 

"So, you were saying?" he grinned, looking back over his shoulder as he began to walk away, Sungyeol and Myungsu watching with amusement in their eyes, Chen with worry in his, and Suho sighing deeply at the entire scene. "I am still not frozen, Taozi..." 

"You're just lucky, that's all," Tao grumbled, turning away, his expression thunderous. It grew even worse when Sehun quickly put his arms around Luhan and with Sunggyu's help, got him up and began to take him to one of the cars. Were they all intent on defying his wishes? 

Suho patted him on the back. "Just go with one of the others," he murmured. "There are enough people to help right now. You need to rest..."

Normally Tao would have argued with him until they were both upset and yelling, but he didn't have the strength. 

"Ok," he murmured, and followed Xiumin to the cars, Suho's eyebrows rising in surprise, both at the fact that he didn't argue, and the fact that he followed Xiumin. Shaking his head, he concentrated on getting the rest of his and Kris' groups seen to, then got into one of the cars himself, and they all (finally) set off for Dongwoo's apartment, in varying states of pain, sadness, and exhaustion.


	3. Chapter 2 - First Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They are given shelter and can finally rest and begin to recover from their ordeal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year ^^ (See the prologue for detailed notes on characters and powers.)

Once they got to Dongwoo's apartment building, he let them in with his key, then ran down to the basement to make sure everything was in order, finding everything the landlord had promised. Relieved, he informed Woohyun, who gave the ok for the others to be moved. 

It took several trips to get everyone into the basement, but they somehow managed it, an injured or unconscious young man between an awake or less injured one, until they were all settled and happy. Neither Soohyun nor Sunggyu could see any sense to the order they'd insisted on, shaking their heads and looking at each other as the newcomers continued to fuss until they'd all laid down to sleep. 

Xiumin, as the eldest of the entire group, lay the furthest from the door, with the unconscious Kai between him and Sehun, the youngest member wide-eyed and still looking tense and wary. Luhan lay next to him, with Tao on his other side, both hands firmly clutching Luhan's limp one on one side, the healer's on the other, though he kept a close watch on Sehun, concerned about the younger man. Sehun hadn't said a thing since Luhan had been taken from him and since they'd arrived at the apartment block, and it worried him. This was not usual behaviour for him.

The only problem was that with so much going on, it seemed he was the only one who noticed. Sighing softly, Tao resolved to mention it to Xiumin if Sehun's odd behaviour persisted. That was all he could do, exhausted and in emotional (and mental) pain of his own. 

On Lay's other side was Chen, the young man drowsy. Everything else disappeared for him except the news that Lay would be fine. Kris lay unconscious between Chen and the younger leader, Suho, who glanced around almost frantically as he sat, trying to make sure he had everyone he was supposed to and that they were as good as they were going to get under the circumstances. His years of training certainly hadn't prepared him for anything like this, that was for sure. 

Beside Suho, was Baekhyun, his hand grasped tightly by D.O. on the light-user's other side, then Chanyeol and Dongwoo making the tight squeeze together at the opposite end to Xiumin, closest to the door.

"Kevin and I will monitor them every night to make sure they're ok," Soohyun murmured to Sunggyu, the younger leader standing beside him and watching as the young men tried to settle themselves to sleep. "Eli said they've been through some pretty horrific stuff... and they're likely to have suffered lasting effects from that. Nightmares, most certainly..."

Thank you," Sunggyu replied, nodding thoughtfully. It wouldn't surprise him, given the injuries they'd seen on some of the young mens' bodies. "And you know you can always contact Dongwoo if you need anything, or... whatever."

He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. He didn't see any sort of logic in how they lay, but if it made sense to them, he wasn't going to question it. If it made them feel better and was comfortable, that was what mattered. Sunggyu would have to remember to let Dongwoo know what he'd learned from Suho about Chanyeol being a phoenix, but it could wait. Though if they had a phoenix, what else did they have? 

Xiumin sat up and glanced around, seeing that everyone looked about as comfortable as they were going to get in this strange place, and sighed. "Baekhyun..." Oh...wait. He was still unconscious. "Erm... could someone turn off the lights please, so we could sleep?" he asked, glad he didn't have to worry about anything important, like food, shelter, and medicine. That was Kris and Suho's job, after all. 

"Sleep well," Soohyun murmured as Sunggyu turned off the lights, the young men withdrawing and closing the door. Separating after making plans to meet up again the next morning with their respective groups, the two men headed home, leaving the newcomers alone with Dongwoo. 

 

Murmurs continued for a while after the lights went out, and Suho felt anxious in this new place, certain he wasn't the only one. "Guys, let me know you're ok, if you're still awake, and then get to sleep," he said quietly. "Dongwoo?" He was kind of hoping the older man would understand what he was asking for and would help him out. 

"I'm here," D.O. said sleepily. "Tired but ok. 'Night, Suho..."

Tao replied as well, his voice more awake than D.O.'s, despite the fact that he was exhausted, both physically and mentally. "Here. Not ok," he said tersely, his eyes closed and his hands gripping tightly to one of Luhan's and Lay's respectively. 

Chen reached over Lay and touched Tao's arm, trying to comfort him and knowing he failed. "I don't think any of us are ok," he murmured softly, sighing and shrugging a little. "But I'm here too...for what that's worth." 

Chanyeol's asleep," Dongwoo murmured, belatedly answering Suho, sounding almost asleep himself. "Said he was warm, so I think that means he's more ok than not, if that helps any..." 

Sehun was awake but didn't say anything at all; he wanted to scream and cry, and basically just wanted to go home, but denied this, he just shuddered and lay with his eyes wide open, too scared to close them. He didn't trust this strange place or these strange people, or anything at all, for that matter. Not until Luhan woke up and told him everything would be ok. 

"I'm not worrying about anything right now," Xiumin admitted. "Because if I do, I'll never get any sleep." He glanced at Sehun. "Sehun's here, and definitely not ok," he added softly, touching the younger man's arm gently. 

"Hey," he murmured, "It'll be ok, I promise." 

Flinching away from Xiumin, Sehun turned toward Luhan avoid him without a word. Xiumin didn't understand. None of them did, except maybe Tao, and he had his own way of dealing with things that was completely different. 

Frowning, Suho sat up and looked over at Sehun. The younger man's uncharacteristic silence bothered him. "Sehunnie, we can't go back," he said bluntly. "I'm sorry, but we just can't." Maybe hearing it said out loud would get it out of all their systems, once and for all. "Are you going to ignore what it did to Kai just to get us here, and what Lay had to do, his sacrifice in healing the others? Just so you can die needlessly?"

His voice shook and he willed it to stop. 

"You're needed and wanted here with us, Sehun. Please don't doubt that." Or me, Suho wanted to add, but couldn't, as their leader. He had to be stronger than that. "We've come this far, and Lay even found us not just one group of people, but two groups, willing to help us. Believe in them." 

Suho knew now he wasn't just talking to Sehun, but to all of them, as well. "They found us, helped us, saved Lay for us... We have to keep believing in them, and in ourselves. We have to stay alive, to return home someday and free our families and friends, and to save our home worlds..." 

Choking up, Suho went quiet for a few moments, and could hear tears, which oddly enough, relieved him. It meant that Sehun had listened to him, and would hopefully would be ok now. "We can do this. We _will_ do this. Just... hang in there, ok?" 

Sehun had begun to cry during Suho's impromptu speech, completely overwhelmed. He believed in what his leader said, he really did. It just hurt, the fact that he'd had to leave everything he'd ever known behind, or what little of it was left, without knowing if he'd ever be able to return, but as long as there was that hope... 

Xiumin's hand hovered over Sehun's arm, but in the end he withdrew it and settled down to sleep. If he could choose, he'd have preferred not to dream, but he had no idea how any of them were going to be able to avoid nightmares for as long as they lived, however long that ended up being. 

"I'm scared," Sehun whispered between sobs, his shoulders shaking. He'd felt Xiumin's hand hover over his arm before he'd pulled back and felt slightly comforted; he knew Xiumin cared, but he was still frightened. This was so different and scary, and they'd lost so much already. 

"Me too," Tao admitted softly, letting go of Luhan's hand to pat Sehun's hair comfortingly. "But I'm more scared of _them_ than I am of this place, or of these people..." He sighed. "I don't want to die, or be forced to be like them..." 

"It'll be ok, Sehunnie. Trust Suho. And Lay. He found these people for us, after all." D.O. was nothing, if not practical. "Sleep now and worry some other time when we have the energy for it."

Despite the situation, both Sehun and Suho chuckled at D.O.'s words. "Thanks for the vote of confidence," Suho replied, settling back down to sleep. He felt worn out. "Sleep now, guys..."

Chen settled down further as well, almost asleep with his arm over Lay, and his hand still touching Tao's arm. It comforted him a lot more than he'd ever expected it would, so he was going to leave it there. "Yeah, what he said," he murmured sleepily."

"Which he?" Xiumin asked, confused. 

"All of them," Chen murmured drowsily. "Everything. Especially the sleep part." 

The laughter that followed Chen's words soothed Sehun even more and he found himself falling asleep with Tao's hand still patting his hair, snuggling into Luhan's side. Tao remained awake for a little while longer until he realised Sehun was asleep, then withdrew his hand, re-lacing his fingers with Luhan's limp ones and falling asleep not long after. 

Listening quietly, Dongwoo bit his lip to keep from saying anything, now awake again after Suho's little speech, smiling at Chen's sleepily amusing comments. He couldn't imagine having gone through whatever it was they had done, and what... had Suho meant about worlds? He'd only been listening with half an ear (apparently) when the others had been talking about it. It made his head hurt just thinking about that, though it solved the problem of how they'd never found these kids before now.

Still, it didn't take long before everyone was asleep, exhaustion taking its toll on them, the quiet soothing. 

 

Baekhyun woke slowly, his injuries making themselves felt as he remembered how and why he'd gotten them. Bolting upright as he realised he was no longer in familiar surroundings, his right hand shot up as he conjured light, as bright as he could make it. Just where the hell were they and what had happened? His memories were hazy at best... 

The bright light woke Suho, the young leader's eyes closing against the glare of the light. "Baekhyun, stand down," he said as calmly as he could, though his heart was racing. "It's ok, we're safe. Cut the light before you wake up the others and scare Sehunnie..." 

Extinguishing the light, Baekhyun tried to calm himself down, blinking at Suho. "Where... where are we?" he asked, his voice shaky. "I thought there wasn't anywhere left we _could_ go." But he was sitting on a mattress, with a blanket over him, his friends around him, and just felt so utterly lost and confused. "Where are we?" he repeated, laying back down, sounding lost. "Is everyone ok?" 

Suho sighed as D.O. shifted uncomfortably on Baekhyun's other side, disturbed by the light, or so he hoped. If it was a nightmare, he didn't have any way to help him or any idea how to get him out of it. 

"I'm not sure where we are," Suho admitted quietly, "But we're safe, for now. Most of us are ok, and we will be fine, given enough time." He sighed again tiredly. "Go back to sleep. It's night time here, and we're all exhausted. I'll explain everything in the morning, once everyone's awake." 

Pulling the blankets closer around himself, Baekhyun sighed. "So we found friends?" he asked. Last he'd heard, they didn't have any left. 

Suho patted Baekhyun's shoulder awkwardly. "Yeah, Lay..." He stopped for a moment, closing his eyes as he reminded himself that the healer was no longer dying and was actually recovering, according to their new friends. "Lay found us some new friends, who helped us..." 

He looked over at Chanyeol. 

"One of them is still here, with Chanyeol, and we're in the basement of his..." Suho thought about how to explain where they were. "Apartment block. It's the only place they could find big enough to put us all at such short notice..." 

"So, either real friends, or he's expendable," Baekhyun murmured, then shook his head. "No, never mind me," he added. "You said we were safe, and I trust you..." 

The cuts still hurt, and he knew at some point, he was going to start having horrific nightmares about everything, but right now, Baekhyun just wanted to pass out and forget about it all. 

Staring at Baekhyun, Suho's heart sank. Where had that come from? He knew they'd become jaded and cynical, but that much?

"Baekhyun, they're real friends," he said softly, the blankets rustling as he moved closer to the younger man to avoid waking the others as they talked. "Lay...was dying, and they saved his life. They helped Luhan too, and Dongwoo is helping Chanyeol. That's why he's here - he wouldn't leave him..." 

"We're as safe as they know how to make it for us with no notice," Suho added. "We don't really have any choice but to trust them, but think about it. We're still alive, and we're free. Surely that counts for something?" 

"I know," Baekhyun replied tiredly, but in the last however long, they had seen so much horror and treachery that he didn't know what to think anymore. "I trust you..." He'd wait and see about these others later, when he'd awakened and recovered a bit more. And made sure everyone else was ok too. "Go to sleep, Suho. You can explain in the morning..." 

"I'll be fine, Baekhyun," Suho smiled, reaching across to give Baekhyun an awkward hug. "I just want to make sure you're ok first. Then I can go back to sleep." Though he knew it wasn't going to be that simple or easy; he could hear something that worried him, the sounds of someone crying. 

Sitting up again, Suho patted Baekhyun gently. "Baek, can you give me a little light?" he asked softly, peering into the darkness. "I need to see something." 

 

Luhan was confused and scared. In the midst of all the fighting, he'd taken a direct hit and gone down, his energy somehow... gone. How he hadn't been killed, he had no idea, but he could feel everything pressing in on him, vague memories of things he couldn't possibly have witnessed making him shake with terror and confusion. 

Yixing. He'd felt his best friend, the person he loved more than anything else, nearby at one point, before he'd abruptly disappeared, and it scared him badly. Was he now dead? That thought filled Luhan with despair and grief and he began to cry softly. Yixing... he'd tried so hard to save them all, and now... 

 

The light Baekhyun conjured lit just the area around them, not bright enough to cause pain this time, but just enough to see what was going on and that was it. He sat up to look around, and let the light increase until Suho told him to stop. 

Looking around as soon as he could see properly with the help of Baekhyun's light, Suho was surprised to see Luhan in tears. For one thing, Luhan rarely, if ever, cried. But did that mean he was waking up? Relieved despite his concern, Suho carefully got to his feet and went to kneel by Luhan, though it was difficult, with Tao on one side and Sehun on the other.

"It'll be ok, Luhan," Suho whispered, hoping his words would somehow get through to Luhan. "We're all safe. You're safe, we'll be ok..." 

Murmuring in the language of his home-world, Luhan cried out his grief at losing Lay. "Yixing, why?" he sobbed heartbrokenly. "You didn't have to die." 

Lost when Luhan began to sob and murmur in the language of his home-world, the one he shared with Kris, Lay, and the others from his planet, rather than the common tongue shared between their worlds, the only word Suho could recognise was Lay's name. 

"Yixing is fine, he'll be ok," Suho said desperately, hoping Luhan would understand enough to stop crying and settle into a more natural sleep. Or at least that was the plan. "Luhan, Yixing... Lay is ok. He's safe. You're safe. It's ok..." 

Baekhyun didn't understand much either, apart from what Suho had said about Lay dying, though as he looked around, he thought of something. "Suho, see if Tao will wake up and help. He speaks the same language... doesn't he?" They were both from the same home-world, though they spoke different dialects, though Baekhyun didn't think that should be a problem. 

Blinking at Baekhyun's suggestion, Suho didn't really want to wake Tao, but he couldn't really see any other alternative; his words weren't having any effect at all on Luhan, and he needed to do something before he woke the others. Gently shaking the younger boy, Suho tried to wake Tao. 

"Tao, wake up, please," he murmured, shaking him again. "Luhan's waking up. Or at least I think he is, and he needs one of you..." 

Tao shivered, caught in a very strange dream, and woke at Luhan's name, hope in his eyes. "Luhan's waking up?" he asked, still half asleep. "Luhan's going to be ok?" 

Aware of the others and their need to sleep, Baekhyun softened the light even more and centred it around them, trying to let everyone else sleep. He was growing tired too, but he could wait. This was more important. 

Suho sighed and nodded. "You need to talk to him," he replied softly, worried that Luhan's distress would transmit to and wake the others; they were all unusually sensitive at the moment, being in a strange place. "He's talking in your language, not the common tongue, and doesn't seem to understand me." 

He tried hard to keep the whine out of his voice, though it didn't seem (to his relief) that Tao even caught it anyway, focused on Luhan the moment he'd explained. "Just tell him Lay will be ok, and that we're safe, and that it's ok to go to sleep..." 

Groggily, Tao sat up and looked over at Luhan, his eyes widening as he saw the older man's tears. "Luhan... it's all right," he whispered to Luhan, leaning over and putting his arms around the older man. "Yixing is fine. He's alive and we're safe. We're all safe."

Monitoring the newcomers, as Soohyun had told Sunggyu they would, Kevin could hear the worry coming through in one of the others' dreams, and after pin-pointing the source of the concern, didn't hesitate. Using the connection, he found someone who had to be Luhan, caught in a nightmare that Kevin wouldn't wish on his worst enemy, and working fast, he pulled Luhan out of it, and into something neutral. Letting him adjust to that (even if only just), Kevin nudged him awake. 

He'd probably ended up scaring Luhan, but caught between that and leaving him in what had to be their version of utter hell, Kevin knew he'd do it again, no question. If he'd felt Kevin, well, hopefully he wouldn't kill him when they eventually met each other properly in the morning. And hopefully he wouldn't try to take his head off. He liked it where it was. 

Barely registering there were other voices in his nightmare, ones that he should have recognised, Luhan gave a cry of confusion when he was abruptly pulled into a strange place, somewhere he didn't recognise at all, and then screamed loudly when he was forced to wake up. Shuddering and breathing heavily, Luhan opened his eyes, to find himself in unfamiliar surroundings, but with his friends (or at least those of his friends who seemed to be awake, some of them staring at him wide-eyed) looking at him with odd expressions on their faces. 

"What the _hell_ just happened to me?" he demanded shakily, suddenly aware that Tao was hugging him, almost as if for dear life. "I was dreaming... and then somebody..." He shook his head, completely baffled. "I don't understand. Where are we, and what's going on?"

"You're ok. I'm so glad you're ok, Luhan..." Tao murmured, close to tears. "You're finally awake, you're alive, and Lay's going to be ok too..." Overwhelmed with everything that had happened, Tao finally broke down and began to cry, still hugging Luhan. 

Exhausted, Baekhyun dimmed the light even more, letting it fade until it was barely there. A lot had obviously happened, but this sort of light he could still maintain while asleep. Laying back down, he got comfortable and closed his eyes again. 

Patting Tao's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, Suho looked over at Baekhyun and sighed. At least Luhan's screaming hadn't awakened too many of the others, though Sehun was now awake and watching everything that happened with wide eyes, something he'd hoped to avoid. Now he had to get the youngest of them back to sleep, which could prove difficult. 

"Let's sleep now and I'll tell you everything tomorrow, when the others can be told too," Suho said tiredly, patting Sehun's knee. "Sleep, Sehunnie. Everything's ok now." 

"I'm awake now, Suho," Luhan replied with a sigh. "I won't be able to sleep now, not after..." He couldn't get what had happened out of his mind. Being pulled around mentally like that was unnerving at the best of times, let alone right now, when he had no idea what was going on, what had gone on, or anything. He didn't even know who'd done it, or why. 

"Just try, please, Luhan," Suho said, getting up to go back to his own sleeping spot. "Help Sehun, if you can, when you're done with Tao. He's..." Suho sighed again. "He needs you too..." 

"What's going on?" Chen murmured, rubbing his eyes sleepily and sitting up. The dim light was at least familiar, and meant Baekhyun must have woken up. 

"That's what I asked," Luhan replied, somewhat aggrieved that he wasn't being told anything. "Nobody's telling me anything."

"Baekhyun and Luhan are awake now," Tao murmured, sitting up and wiping at his eyes. "They're ok." Now all they had to worry about were Kris and Lay, and Sungyeol had said Lay would be ok, so... 

"Baekhyun has gone back to sleep," Sehun pointed out quietly, moving closer to Luhan now that Tao seemed to have calmed down and moved away. 

"You're awake?" Chen asked, and sagged, relieved. "One more, and we're all ok, or at least all in one piece." He rubbed at his eyes again. "We're safe, or as safe as we can be, and Lay found us friends before he passed out..." 

He'd leave out the almost dying part for now, and hopefully so would everyone else. "They found us this place, and... understand us. Sort of. One of them is with Chanyeol." Not that he thought anyone could see him, with the light so dim. 

Luhan's eyes narrowed. "Who else?" he asked softly. "Is... like I was..." He put his arm around Sehun, pulling him closer. "What is this place? Where are we?" He sighed. "I don't know what happened after I was hit, who was hurt, how badly, how we got to this place... Nothing makes sense." He looked around to try and find Chanyeol, to see this stranger, but the light was too dim to see much. "I..." 

"It's ok," Chen murmured, shrugging. "I don't really know where we are either. None of us do. All we know is that we're in that one's basement," he pointed in Dongwoo's general direction, "In a room his landlord said we could use for the night, on bedding he even provided." 

He bit at his lip. "Kris, Chanyeol, Baekhyun, and you were all injured, and Kai knocked himself out getting us here." Chen stopped and cleared his throat, a feeling of homesickness welling up. "It's a nice place mostly, a lot like our home... used to be." 

"Yixing," Luhan murmured. "What happened to him?" He looked around Tao and saw the healer, laying on the younger man's other side. "I felt... something." He looked at Tao. "You said he'd be ok, right? He's not..." His face tightened with pain for a moment. "He's not dead?" 

Giving Sehun a warning glance, Tao shook his head firmly. "Yixing is going to be fine," he told Luhan in their language. "I told you." 

Luhan stared back at Tao, knowing just from his choice of words that there was something they weren't telling him. "But there's more you're _not_ telling me," he murmured, his eyes on Tao's face. He knew when the younger man was being evasive and the signs were all over his face. 

"He's fine," Chen said quietly, diverting Luhan's attention from Tao. "Would I be this calm if he wasn't? He pushed a bit too hard in trying to heal everyone, just like he usually does, but he's fine. And definitely not dead." How he managed to get that out without choking, he wasn't entirely sure, but he did. 

Looking over at Chen, his eyes narrowed, Luhan sighed again. "I will find out what you're keeping from me," he told them both, gently pushing Tao away. "But for now, go back to sleep before Suho gets any more upset with me than he already is." Sehun he kept close, worrying about the younger man. 

"I'm not upset," Suho protested tiredly. "Just go back to sleep and let the rest of us get some rest too. As I said before, the questions and answers can wait until everyone else has a chance to hear what's happened." Ok, so maybe he _was_ exhausted and a bit grumpy as a result, but it wasn't all Luhan's fault. "Look after Sehunnie," he requested sleepily, settling down to sleep again.

Tao laid down with a pout on his face. "You never believe me," he sulked, closing his eyes. "I'm not lying, you know." 

"Maybe not," Luhan replied softly, pulling Sehun down with him. "But you're still not telling me everything, and that's not fair. And it's because I know you too well, that I know there's more." 

Chen sighed, rolled his eyes, and laid down as well. "We'll let him tell you then," he muttered in annoyance. "You won't kill him." He nestled further into the blankets, so very glad to be warm and able to feel safe again. He'd missed that more than he thought. "He owes Tao anyway, and really, you should start listening to Suho, even if he is younger than you. He is a leader..." 

Sehun couldn't help but chuckle at Chen's comment, mainly because it was true and they all knew it. Luhan had his favourites (no matter how much he tried to deny it), and Lay was one of them. The feeling was mutual; Lay helped Luhan wherever he could, too. Sehun knew he was included in this favourites category, and it helped, especially now. 

"I'm glad you're awake now, Luhan," Sehun whispered, closing his eyes. He felt so much safer now that he knew Luhan was ok. 

Luhan's eyebrows went up at Chen's comment, particularly the last bit about listening to Suho, but at Sehun's chuckle, he turned his attention to the younger man. "Thanks, Sehunnie," he whispered back with a gentle smile. "Go back to sleep." 

"You too," Chen murmured. "I'm sure they didn't mean to hurt you or anything." Now if only Kris, Lay, and Kai would just wake up... 

Turning to look at Chen as best as he could with the others in the way, Luhan's eyes were narrowed. "You know who... did that to me, don't you?" he asked, though it was more of a statement than an actual question. "Who are these people? Why...?" He shifted to lean on one arm so he could see over Tao and Lay. "Chen... You know something..."

"I know I want to sleep and I know there are other people with better answers than I can give you," Chen replied, starting to get annoyed, his tone reflecting that. "A couple of them work with dreams, I think. I suspect that's what happened." 

Blinking at Chen's reply, Luhan involuntarily shuddered, not knowing what to say to that. Though he decided that if he ever met the person who'd scared the shit out of him, he was going to have words, and not very nice ones, at that. 

"Go to sleep, then," Luhan eventually murmured, sighing heavily as he laid back, his hands under his head as he stared up at the plain cement of the basement's ceiling. Or what he could see of it. "I'll make you all tell me in the morning." What had they gotten themselves into? 

"We're safe here, Luhan," Chen murmured, sounding more than half asleep. "The rest we can deal with." 

"If you say so," Luhan shrugged non-committally. "We'll see..." 

Even _if_ they were safer here, who could say they would stay that way? And these people, these new friends they'd found, what about their safety, if they proved reliable as friends? Luhan spent what remained of the night lost in thought, not daring to fall asleep again in this strange place. 

"You never believe me either," Chen sighed, but never heard anything more, soon fast asleep once again.

 

Even though Daeryong was the older twin, Soryong felt it first, somehow more sensitive to the energies than his older brother. It made him feel light-headed at first, then a split-second of confusion followed as he tried to work out exactly _why_ he felt so odd. Then he felt the power. Injured, but there.

"Dae," he murmured, looking up from the TV as his brother made dinner (it was his turn that week), grumbling murmurs coming from the direction of the kitchen. "Do you feel a bit... weird? Like..." He struggled to put it into words. "Like what Mother said was going to happen... has happened, and Wu Fan..." He shook his head. "Kris... is here?" 

The noisy sounds of pots and pans, and drawers and cupboards opening and closing suddenly stopped, and a few seconds later, Daeryong poked his head out from behind the kitchen wall, his eyes wide. 

"He _is_ here," Daeryong replied, his voice oddly pitched. "It's faint, but it's there. He's hurt, and badly..." But where was he? Seoul was a massive city with many suburbs and so many places to hide it made his head spin. "We have to find him..." 

"Can't it wait until you've finished dinner?" Soryong said plaintively, looking at his brother longingly. "I'm hungry, and you said it was almost ready ages ago..." He got up from the sofa, turning off the distracting TV and headed for the desk with their computer on it. "I'm going to see if I can find any reports of strangers suddenly appearing out of nowhere..." 

Their mother had said a teleporter would be bringing him and a few friends, but that was about as much as she'd been willing to tell them. The journey to Earth, and their integration into human society hadn't been easy, nor the waiting, but now it was over. Their brother, Kris, was here, and would need them. 

"And you'll have to get the box out," he added softly, knowing how sensitive that topic was with Daeryong. "He'll need what's in it." 

"I know that!" Daeryong snapped, then sighed. "I don't need to get it out. I know where it is." He glared at his brother. "And dinner is ready. I'm just getting the dishes so you can set the table. And eat fast." He snorted. "Not like it's haute cuisine," he added with a wry smile. "It's only ramyeon, again..." 

Soryong sighed heavily. "You suck at this," he said, shaking his head as he got up, his search abandoned for the moment. "Maybe they'll have someone who can cook better than you can, cuz this is ridiculous. I didn't come to Earth just to eat ramyeon every other week..." 

"Shut up and eat or you won't get anything at all," Daeryong advised, rapping him on the head with a wooden spoon as he passed, grabbing the dishes he'd put on the counter. "And you're delaying us," he added, his eyebrows raising as Soryong stiffened and almost ran to set the table. "We'll go look for Kris after dinner..."

Nodding, Soryong finished quickly and settled into his chair to wait for his brother, and they began to eat as quickly as they could, so they could start the mission that had begun with their exile to Earth the equivalent of almost 9 Earth years before. 

 

But by the time they found the site where their senses told them their brother had been, Kris and his friends were long gone, leaving no clues as to where, apart from the tire tracks of many cars in the parking lot and the signs of other injured. This wasn't a good sign to the twins, and they knew they'd have to keep looking. They couldn't afford to fail. Not now. Not ever.

"Hang in there, Kris," Daeryong murmured, Soryong nodding along with his words, as they set off for home. "We'll find and help you. I promise."


	4. Chapter 3 - Day One, Drama

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys of EXO begin to wake up and immediately, the drama begins. Luhan mysteriously collapses while on a 'getting-to-know-Earth' trip with Xiumin and Myungsu, setting off a chain of potentially disastrous events...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The EXO boys are not from Earth, so naturally there will be things they don't know/don't recognise, since they didn't have them on their planets. Powers, etc. found in the notes section of the prologue.

When it began to get light out, the sunlight shining very faintly through the small windows set high up into the wall, some of the exhausted young men began to stir. D.O. and Tao first, then Suho, the younger leader rubbing his eyes and frowning deeply when he saw Luhan, wide awake and watching them. 

"You didn't go back to sleep at all, did you?" he asked, though he already knew the answer. "Luhan, you need to sleep too..." 

Luhan smiled faintly. "I was unconscious for most of whatever happened during and after the fight, and then when we got here, so I think that should qualify as enough sleep for now, don't you?" 

"Unconsciousness is not the same as sleep, you know that, Luhan," Chen mumbled, his voice fading as he curled deeper into the blankets. 

Sighing and shrugging, Suho turned to wake the others, shaking them gently. "Baekhyun, Chanyeollie..." he murmured, hoping they'd go easy on him and wake without too much trouble. "Come on, it's time to wake up now." 

Baekhyun rubbed his eyes and groaned. "Eugh. Remind me next time to stay well out of the way of anyone with a sword. Or a knife. Or anything sharp," he mumbled, stretching and then giving a hiss as it pulled at his wounds. "Are you sure we have to wake up at all?" He closed his eyes again, intent on going back to sleep.

"Do they even have swords here?" D.O. asked, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes childishly. "Get up, Baek. I'm glad you're going to be ok," _relieved and absolutely ecstatic, actually_ , "But we have things to do..." 

He looked around at the others and began to help Suho wake them up. 

"They have swords everywhere," Baekhyun replied grumpily. "Whether or not they're in common use, they will have them. And if not swords, then knives, at the very least, which are just as bad."

Tao sighed. He could have done with more sleep; in fact he was certain they all could have done, but D.O. was right. They needed to tell Baekhyun and Luhan what had happened, and try to wake Kris, Kai, and Lay. And that was just for starters. They also needed to find a permanent place to live since there was no way he was going to stay stuck in this place for very much longer, and he had a feeling the others would come to feel the same. It felt too much like a prison, however safe it was. 

Xiumin arched his back as he was awakened and sighed when it cracked sharply, getting a second crack when he sat up and stretched again, groaning. "I think I can move now," he sighed, then grinned widely when he saw Luhan was awake, though the intense look in his eyes should have made him more wary than he was. "Luhan... It's nice to see you finally awake." 

Luhan stared at Xiumin. Finally someone was awake who he could get to tell him what had happened. "Xiumin," he began, ignoring the fact that they were talking over everyone else, the others still slow to wake up. "What exactly happened when we got here?" He glanced meaningfully at Lay. "To Yixing..." 

Blinking, Xiumin was finally becoming wary and uncomfortable at the look in Luhan's eyes. "Erm, well..." he murmured, looking at the others rather than at Luhan to give himself time to think. "Kai collapsed, and Lay went to help him and then Baekhyun and Kris, and then Chanyeol said he didn't need any help..." 

He tried to remember all the hazy details. So much had happened, and it had been pretty chaotic. 

"He tried to heal you, but that was all he could do and then he collapsed. Lay did manage to get us some help though..." Xiumin shook his head regretfully. "I don't really remember; it was total chaos for a while. But then he kind of deteriorated, and Tao had to stop him, and then..." He sat, lost in thought again. "One of the people he'd found to help us was able to help him, and now he's fine," he finished with a brightly hopeful smile. 

"Yeah, see, it's that deterioration part that nobody thought to tell me about," Luhan replied almost accusingly, glaring at the others. "Just how bad did he get, if Tao had to..." 

That must have been when Lay 'disappeared' to his senses, and his heart ached as he looked over at his friend, laying motionless next to Tao. "That's what you were keeping from me, isn't it? The fact that he was..." 

"Because we knew you'd shout at us," Chen protested, now wide awake and upset. "It's not like we could stop him. You know what he's like!"

"That's exactly why someone has to stop him!" Luhan replied angrily, sitting up and glaring at Chen. "Because he'll die if you don't." He clenched his jaw tightly, glancing at Lay again. "He almost died, didn't he? You can't let him do that!" 

"I tried!" Chen protested again, just as angry as Luhan was. "We all tried. He's got the self-preservation of a... a she-wolf with cubs, and I can't stop him when he gets like that. None of us can!" Annoyed, he bit at his lip, then turned to his other side, poking Kris. "Yah," he murmured. "Wake up! You should be dealing with this!"

Xiumin got to his feet and padded to the other end of the room, hoping to get other people up in the middle of this argument he'd sort of helped start without meaning to, just as Sehun was awakened by the loud voices of his friends. He looked up at Luhan sleepily with a worried expression on his face. 

"What's wrong, Luhan?" he asked, sitting up and looking half awake, blinking between Chen and Luhan in confusion. 

"He has no sense of self-preservation at all!" Luhan retorted, mindful of Sehun sitting beside him. "Somebody needs to stop him. He just can't do this!" 

Frustrated, Luhan looked down at his hands, which were balled into fists into his lap, as he tried to keep the tears from overwhelming him. He couldn't lose his best friend. He just couldn't. 

"Guys, that's quite enough," Suho said firmly, coming over to put his hand on Luhan's shoulder. "Yes, Lay nearly died, but our new friends help save his life." He gave Luhan a piercing look. "And yours too." He sighed. "And you know full well nothing will change. He's just as stubborn as the rest of you."

Kneeling next to Chanyeol, who was still asleep, Xiumin sighed. 

"Chanyeol, if you don't get up, I'm going to have Suho dump water all over you," he murmured, shaking the younger man and getting no response. 

He glanced over at Dongwoo, uncertain as to whether he should even attempt to wake him up. He didn't know what the other man would do; he was a complete unknown. 

Xiumin looked over at Luhan as Suho finished speaking. "You're the only one who has _any_ luck at it, and you were out for the count," he said, and nudged Chanyeol again. "Come on you, or you're going to get it!" 

"Go away," Chanyeol murmured, reaching out to shove Xiumin away, though he failed miserably. "I don't have to wake up yet." 

"Yes, you do," Suho replied from the other side of the room where he was dealing with Luhan and Chen's argument. "D.O., help Xiumin make sure Chanyeol is up." 

Glaring at Chanyeol, D.O. shoved him, though carefully; he was wary of Dongwoo. "Get up, lazy," he grumbled. "We're up, so there's no reason for you not to be." 

"Yes there is," Chanyeol replied sullenly, stubbornly keeping his eyes closed. "I'm warm and the cold is going, and I don't want to. Now go away!" 

Taking his life into his hands, Xiumin poked Dongwoo experimentally. 

"Hey, can you help us?" he asked, looking a little put out when Dongwoo didn't so much as stir, let alone respond. For all he knew, the guy could have been dead, except for the fact that his chest rose and fell with his breaths. 

Chen poked again at Kris, jabbing him in the arm. "Wake up," he insisted stubbornly. "You're needed..." 

"Touch me again and I'll get Yixing to do something nasty to you," Kris muttered, his eyes still closed. "That hurts!" 

Luhan stared over at Kris, his expression lightening. Kris was starting to wake up. "Kris," he murmured. "You're..." 

Tao was less restrained, practically jumping over Lay and Chen to get to the older man. "Kris, you're awake!" he said, relief in his voice and expression. "Thank the Gods..." 

Chen's expression turned thunderous and he looked around, then stood and headed to the door. "I'm going to try and work out where we are," he muttered, and made his escape. If they didn't appreciate him, then their loss.

Kris pushed Tao away, not ready for anyone to touch him just yet; everything hurt too much. "Stop it, Tao," he said in a pained tone. "You're hurting me." 

Tao's face fell, though he tried not to let it show too much. "Sorry," he mumbled apologetically, flopping down where Chen had just been laying and watching Kris intently, though warily. The older man's eyes were still closed, so how he'd known it was him... 

Suho was glad Kris had awakened; now he had someone to help share the burden of leadership. "Chanyeol, get up," he ordered, getting to his feet again now that it seemed Luhan no longer needed him. He looked over to where D.O. had returned to the light-user's side and was trying in vain to get the older man to get up. "Baekhyun, you too." 

"I'm glad you're awake, Kris," he told the older leader, the relief plain in his voice. "But if you're in that much pain..." He bit his lip. Unless Kris' life was in danger (which didn't seem to be the case, though he wasn't an expert), he wasn't going to try to wake Lay or even allow him to attempt to heal him in his present condition. It would just make matters worse. "I hope you feel better soon," he added, going over to check on Baekhyun and Chanyeol. 

Chanyeol huffed softly in annoyance and reluctantly pulled away from Dongwoo, shivering as he sat up. "It's cold," he complained, glaring at Suho and Xiumin. "I think I really hate you..." 

Rubbing at his eyes again, Baekhyun sat up slowly, wincing as his injuries made themselves known again. "Is there anything to drink?" he asked quietly, in a plaintive voice. He didn't want to start anything, but he was incredibly thirsty. 

Suho stopped and leaned against the wall, staring at Baekhyun in dismay, trying to think around a stress headache threatening to build up. "I don't know," he replied eventually, sighing. "I can give you water, but without anything to drink from... it's kind of useless." 

"What about..." Luhan fell silent, biting his lip. He had no connection to these people so couldn't use his power like Lay had done to call them back, or even to wake the one with them. 

Tao looked at Suho. "What about waking up the one whose place this is?" he asked quietly. "Do we even know which apartment is his?" 

"No," Suho replied regretfully. None of them had been thinking about anything else other than sleeping and seeing to their injured friends. Finding out where Dongwoo lived in this apartment block hadn't really been a priority. He looked at Xiumin, then over at Baekhyun when he began to speak again. 

"I can wait," Baekhyun murmured with a tiny sigh. "Don't worry about it." 

"This guy is impossible," Xiumin said in answer to the glance Suho had sent his way. He'd been trying to get the man to wake up, without success. "I hope whoever he lives with has a better way of waking him up, because he is definitely out. And I don't know if he'll ever wake up..." 

Following the conversation with some difficulty, Kris was confused and opened his eyes, sitting up in shock. This wasn't their home-world! Glancing at Tao in puzzlement, the pain of his sudden movement hit him and he doubled over, groaning with pain. He tried (and failed) to assess the damage, giving up when the misery of his injuries made it too difficult to fully concentrate. 

"Where the hell are we?" he demanded breathlessly, wondering what had happened. "What's going on here?" 

Looking away, Tao bit at his lip again. After the fight with Luhan, he was reluctant to say anything for fear of upsetting their leader even more than he already was. Xiumin took care of that for him, getting to his feet. 

"We don't actually know the name of this place," he said, looking at Kris. "Just that Kai almost killed himself getting us here after you fell. _They_ aren't here, and that's the main thing." He glanced at Dongwoo with a wry smile. "And we're in the basement of that guy's apartment building..." 

"Anyway, to make a long story short, Lay found people who can and did help us, and they've left us here to sleep for the night. This Dongwoo guy," he indicated the man asleep at his feet, "Is one of them. His element is fire, and he's been helping Chanyeol recover." 

"You forgot the best part, Xiumin," Luhan added bitterly. "Yixing almost died. You didn't tell Kris _that_." 

What? Staring at Luhan, Kris' eyes widened. "He what?" he asked, his voice rising as he turned to glare at the unconscious healer. "Suho, what the hell happened?!" 

Glaring at Luhan in frustration, Suho sighed and knelt next to Kris. "He was almost at the end of his strength anyway, and then he helped Kai after we got here, and tried to help you and Baekhyun... and Luhan, and then collapsed." 

"But he'd sent out a distress call, and when he got a reply, he overdid it leading them to us, and was dying..." Suho looked over at Tao, who sat with his head down. "Until Tao stopped him." He rubbed at his face, feeling more stressed and worn out than before he'd gone to sleep, looking up when Kris put his hand on his knee. "They helped keep Lay from dying, but I can't let him do any more until he's fully recovered." 

Kris sighed deeply and nodded. "I agree, and I'll talk to him after he wakes up," he said quietly, wanting to smack Lay for his stupidity and then hug him and never let go. Though he knew Luhan might have some issues with that. And quite possibly Chen as well. "He can't keep putting his life in danger like that. We need him." 

"Good. You explain that to him," Xiumin said acidly, leaning against the wall. "Because he won't listen to anyone else, and I also suggest you go after Chen and apologise." He turned on Luhan. "You both know that nothing any of us says does anything to get Lay to stop. Shouting at Chen isn't going to change that and all it's going to do is make sure nobody wants to answer you at all when you ask anything." 

"They weren't answering me, that's why!" Luhan replied, stung by the criticism. "They kept leaving stuff out and it's not fair. Yixing is my best friend, and if anything happens to him." Breathless from trying to keep himself from bursting into tears, Luhan got to his feet. "I know he's like that, but it still doesn't make it fair..."

"Luhan..." Kris' voice was soft. "I know the situation is less than ideal, but Xiumin is right. I don't know if he'll even listen to me, but I'm still going to try..." He sighed and looked up at the older man as he got up. "He's important to all of us, but then again, so are you. Don't ever forget that..." 

Shaking his head, Luhan left the room. They didn't understand his relationship with Lay at all. Lay wouldn't listen to him most of the time either, especially when it came to healing, and it hurt. 

Xiumin scrubbed his head with his hands, his hair sticking up every which way. "Would someone just tell me to shut up before I even get started?" he sighed, pushing off the wall to go sit next to Chanyeol, who was still shivering and looking despondently at Dongwoo, waiting for him to wake up."Then these arguments wouldn't keep happening..." 

"You weren't wrong, Xiumin," Kris said tiredly, shooting worried glances at Suho. "Just give him time to get over the shock." They'd all need time to recover from everything that had happened, both during and after the recent fight, and their arrival on this strange world. He turned to Suho. "Suho, did you get _any_ sleep last night? You don't look like you did." 

"I got about as much as anyone else did," Suho replied softly so only Kris could hear, looking away. "Only Luhan refused to sleep after he regained consciousness." Which might have explained some of his uncharacteristic moodiness, but not all. "I'm just really glad you're ok. It's exhausting dealing with everyone on my own."

"Who is the stranger with Chanyeol? Wake him up, with your power, if you have to," Kris said quietly. "We can't do this on our own without knowing where we are, or what we're dealing with." He patted Suho's knee. "We need food, something to drink, and some idea of how we're going to survive here." 

He winced. "And some kind of medical care, if they can manage it, since we can't let Lay do it all on his own either," he added wryly, noticing how stiffly Baekhyun was moving, and his own pain. 

Grinning, Xiumin reached over and touched Dongwoo's forehead with a finger, frost collecting on his forehead and spreading down either side of his face. It also spread down to the back of his neck and between his shoulder blades before the man finally jolted awake. 

"Yah!" Dongwoo sat up and shivered, his eyes wide with shock at the cold. "What the hell, Myu-" He looked around, then blinked and rubbed at his eyes. "Oh... Sorry! You're all awake," he murmured, then smiled brightly, wrapping an arm around Chanyeol, who instantly sighed and smiled, warmth flooding him again. "Is everyone awake now? I can call Sunggyu and see about..." He frowned. "Water, food, and some place a little more... permanent for you to live. Anything else?" 

Staring at Dongwoo, Kris wondered privately if he'd been as asleep as he'd appeared. "Medical attention would be nice," he said wryly, turning to get a proper look at the stranger and wincing again as his injuries protested. "Most of us appear to be awake now. But we do need whatever help you're able to give us, so thank you," he added, not wanting to appear ungrateful. 

"Medical attention, right. I knew I forgot something..." Dongwoo pulled out his phone and called Sunggyu, ignoring the startled looks and stares from the men around him. "Hey, it seems they're mostly all awake now. Any suggestions?"

Sunggyu rolled his eyes, the sound of cars and the road heard over the phone. "How'd they get you up?" he asked, shaking his head. "You're never up this early on a weekend." 

"Ice, or something really close to it," Dongwoo said, his eyes narrowing as Xiumin smirked and then snickered. "There's a reason I won't let Myungsu or Sungyeol stay with me, particularly together."

Unable to help the grin that spread across his face, Sunggyu glanced in the rear-view mirror at the pair who looked half dead. Myungsu hated to be up early too, and Sungyeol was a poor sleeper as it was, so between them... "As I'm sure you can tell, we're on our way," he told the younger man. "Kevin said he had to wake one of them up pretty abruptly, and to apologise for him before we get there." 

"I'll find out who," Dongwoo murmured and looked around to see if he could tell. "See you when you get here..."

 

While Dongwoo talked to whomever was at the other end of... whatever the thing he was using that looked like a tiny little metal brick to Kris, he looked around to take stock. His cousin, Baekhyun, Xiumin, Suho (who looked half dead), D.O., Tao, and Sehun were awake, and Chen and Luhan had gone, though hopefully not too far as they had no way to call them back without Lay. Lay and Kai were still unconscious, something that worried Kris, and obviously Suho as well, from the looks he kept giving the unconscious young men. 

"I'm sure they'll be ok," he murmured, startling Suho. When the younger leader jumped, obviously not expecting him to speak, Kris sighed. "Suho, go lay down. I'll take care of everything here for you so you can sleep, since you did it while I was..." He looked away. "Out..." 

Suho shook his head stubbornly. "No, I'm awake now. I'll be fine," he replied firmly, though he honestly did feel like he needed at least another week's worth of sleep to even start feeling human again. "I need to make sure everyone will be ok." 

Baekhyun sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, glancing at D.O., who was looking down at his lap. "We're fine, as fine as we can be under the circumstances," he said, looking at Chanyeol. 

"I'm fine, I'm warm, everything's good," Chanyeol muttered, still leaning on Dongwoo, though his eyes were closed, and Xiumin nudged him, just to make sure he was awake. 

"Suho, we're fine," Sehun murmured, his fingers playing with Kai's soft hair. "Go rest, before you pass out on us like Lay did." 

"Trust me," Kris added, smiling faintly. "I can handle it from here." 

Suho sighed when it seemed like everyone was ganging up on him. He couldn't deny how stressed he felt, and if it showed that much, he really didn't have much choice in the matter. But he still felt put-upon; he was a leader, and leaders were supposed to lead until they collapsed. On the other hand, they were in a situation they'd never faced before, so perhaps the rules didn't necessarily apply in quite the same way. 

"Fine, but if anything untoward happens, wake me up, ok?" he murmured, going to lay down beside Lay and closing his eyes. He didn't have the energy to go back to his own spot, and since Luhan had gone... 

 

Chen leaned against the wall in the small area outside the basement, his nose pressed to the window that looked out onto the street. It looked so normal, somehow. Foreign, but that was because it was more similar to Suho and Kai's planet, than to theirs. Only that one was as... 

He sighed but didn't look away from the scene in front of him as he heard the door behind him open, taking it all in. He thought maybe they could even fit in here, possibly. At least he hoped so. They could use this place to gather strength, and maybe even go back. 

"It looks so ordinary here, doesn't it?" Luhan commented, coming up behind him and peering out the window. "I'm sorry," he added softly. "I shouldn't have shouted at you. It's not your fault Yixing's a stupid idiot who thinks he has to kill himself for everyone else." 

He sighed. "Kris is awake and being his usual... self," he continued wryly. "And I think Suho is going to pass out on him, if he hasn't already. He was looking pretty miserable when I left." 

Startled, Chen turned to glance at him, then shrugged and went back to the window. "It reminds me of home, before they..." he murmured softly. "But we're never going back, are we? There's just no way the twelve of us can actually do anything, even with help, is there? I'm just an idiot for hoping otherwise, right?" 

Though at least Kris was awake, which meant there were only Kai and Lay to wake up still. His shoulders eased, the pressure lessening. Now if the final two would wake up, the group wouldn't feel quite so... fractured. Or lacking, somehow. "Suho needs to sleep. He was pretty stressed out." 

Luhan looked away, his eyes sad. "I don't know if we can ever go back," he admitted softly. "I hope we can, we all do, but..." Someone had to be realistic here. Would their new friends be willing to help them re-take their home-worlds and rebuild? It didn't seem likely, or even realistic, however willing they were. "Why did Kai bring us here?" 

He fell silent, not certain of what to do or say next. Maybe it was better he stayed quiet for now, since he only ended up upsetting everyone anyway. 

"Where else could he have taken us?" Chen asked, giving Luhan an odd look. "We couldn't stay there; they'd have killed us. They were waiting for us everywhere we went as it was, so the only choice we had was to go somewhere they didn't have people." He snorted softly. "You know what? Don't ask me questions I can't answer. Ask Kai. My answers always end up being wrong to you anyway. 

"I said I was sorry, Chen," Luhan said quietly, hurt by Chen's reaction to his question. "I'm not going to shout at you anymore, if that's what you're so worried about. 

Shifting, he turned to leave. He'd go upstairs and see what he could find there if Chen really didn't want him around. He wasn't about to go back into the stuffy room with the others and their (and his) unpredictable tempers. His own temper was bad enough at the moment. 

This was why he needed Lay, to calm him down and make him feel less... lost and alone. 

"I know, I'm sorry," Chen sighed. "It's all so frightening." He turned around to watch Luhan, his arms folded. "How do we even start to deal with everything that's happened?" he added sadly. "Who could we even talk to that would... understand?" 

"Never mind," he sighed again, scuffing the toe of his shoe on the ground. "We probably won't even last long enough to have the chance to deal with it." 

"Isn't that part of why we're here?" Luhan countered, turning on the stairs to look at Chen. "So we can try, without them constantly on our heels, hounding us literally to death?" He shrugged. "There has to be someone who can help with the coping part of things, too." Sighing, he sat on the step, his head resting on his hands which were folded across his knees. "I wish Yixing would wake up," he murmured softly. "I need him." 

Chen just looked at him, not even bothering to say what he was feeling. Luhan wasn't the only one who had feelings for Lay and who needed him, though he wasn't going to say anything, because he knew Lay didn't feel the same way for him. It still hurt, hearing Luhan go on about how much he needed the healer, when another man stood in front of him who loved him just as much. If not more so, because he was willing to put Lay's happiness before his own, something it seemed Luhan still struggled to do, despite the fact that he was older than either of them. 

Instead of saying what he wanted to say, Chen sighed and shrugged. "You didn't see the way they didn't know what to do with us when they found out we weren't even from this planet," he said in frustration. "How can anyone here possibly understand in a situation like that?" He kicked the wall with the back of his foot. "And Kai. I'd almost rather just go home." 

"See, that's yet another thing nobody bothered to tell me," Luhan sighed, closing his eyes. "And I guess I would agree with you. They wouldn't understand, so we'll just have to muddle through and do it ourselves." Along with everything else they already had to do on their own. "As far as going home, we can't do that and you know it. No matter how much we want to, it's either go back and die, having wasted our time and energy in getting here, or try to cope as best we can and learn to survive here, just like we tried to there." 

"And hope to the Gods they don't find us," he added, his heart feeling heavy in his chest. "Or this world will die too, just like ours did." 

Chen stared at Luhan, then sank to the floor in despair. "We can't do all this," he muttered, looking up at Luhan darkly. "We'll all snap and that would just create more problems. Especially here. That's why we should go back, to stop them from coming here and destroying this place too, really." 

"We. Can't. Go. Back." Luhan carefully enunciated every word, sighing in exasperation. "Weren't you just listening to me? It's not possible right now. Especially not with so many of us out with injuries and weak, and..." Shaking his head at Chen, Luhan gave a wry laugh, his own eyes dark. "And since when did you become Mr. Doom and Gloom? You're normally as disgustingly cheerful as I am. Though I've hardly been a ray of sunshine myself lately." 

"Watching our world, and theirs, get run over tends to kill the sunshine, y'know," Chen murmured. "I don't think I could take watching another world destroyed, bit by bit." He wouldn't; he'd take suicide missions if he had to. Anything but that. 

Sighing (and privately agreeing with Chen), Luhan looked up warily when the door to the basement opened, a group of young men crowding the doorway. One of them felt eerily familiar in a way that made Luhan's skin crawl and his eyes narrowed, his breath catching as he got to his feet. 

"You're the one!" he said, glaring at the young man he vaguely remembered from being mentally yanked around. "What the fuck did you do to me? And why?" Angry, Luhan's fingers twitched. It was such a shame he had nothing he could use as a weapon against the stranger who'd scared him half to death. 

Soohyun glanced at Kevin, his eyebrows raised and a slight grin on his face. "Next time, try to introduce yourself first?" he murmured to Kevin before turning his full attention to the wary men staring at them. "I'm Soohyun, the leader of this group," he said calmly, though his eyes showed his amusement at the situation facing Kevin. "I'm here to see Suho?" 

Ignoring Soohyun's dig at him, Kevin smiled nonchalantly and stepped forward, stopping when Luhan's eyes narrowed even further, his fingers moving almost involuntarily. "I'm sorry about that, but your friends were worried about you, and I had to act, especially when the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the one..." 

He stumbled forward when a tall blond smacked him on the back of the head, turning to glare at his friend. "What the hell, Eli? I was talking!" 

Eli smirked at him and turned to the startled Chen and Luhan. "Ignore him. He spent far too much time watching Star Trek." He shook his head, grinning. "Trekkers... can't live with them... and can't live with them." 

Kevin rolled his eyes and continued where he'd left off, giving Eli a glare from beside him. "Besides, the nightmare you were caught in was something I would never wish on my worst enemy." Sympathy shone in his eyes. "It looked worse than anything I could have ever come up with..." 

Luhan's face went pale, his eyes wide. "It wasn't..." He hadn't wanted to remember that nightmare, his stomach twisting uncomfortably with nausea and grief. "Memories, not a nightmare," he whispered, half-choked. 

Then he looked confused as his mind snapped to what the taller man had said. "Star Trek?" he asked, glancing at Chen, who looked back at him just as confused as he was. "What's that?" 

Shuddering, Kevin blanched. "I see," he replied softly. "Still, I'm not sorry I got you out of it. Your friends were starting to panic, so I didn't have time to make it easy on you. I am sorry about that..."

Eli glanced at them, then chuckled a little weakly at the heavy turn the conversation was taking. "Never mind," he said, waving his hand. "Entertainment here. It's long since off the air, except in re-runs. I'll explain it another time when you're not starving, having nightmares, and when you can actually enjoy it." 

"Would you guys shut up," Dongho muttered, the things he was 'hearing' from the two strangers in particular starting to give him a headache. Eli was just confusing them even more. 

Elbowing the older man aside, Dongho smiled and held out the bag he was holding. "We brought some food, hopefully something you can eat, and there's water too," he said quietly. "Sungyeol-hyung said some of you would probably need a lot, so... " He chuckled softly. "We brought a lot." 

Ignoring Dongho, Luhan stared at Kevin in wary confusion. "What other two? I didn't..." He glanced at Chen as the other man stepped closer to him, not at all sure about these strange people, though not so close as to crowd him. "I didn't see anyone else." Not alive, at any rate. Everyone in his nightmare had been dead, and violently so. 

"I didn't know who they were," Kevin said, sighing. "They were awake though. Trying to wake you up, and they were very worried..." 

A pained look on his face, Luhan gestured at the door to the basement room. "They're in there." He didn't want to talk to Kevin anymore, and Kevin tried not to let it get to him, nodding calmly.

Luhan made sure to stand well out of the way to let them pass, avoiding Kevin altogether. Both Kevin and Soohyun made him feel weird and creeped out, and he didn't like it. And Eli and Dongho just plain made him feel exposed, yet another thing he disliked.

Nodding, Soohyun sighed as he began to lead his group into the room, Kris looking up at him in wary surprise as the others filed in and began to spread out along the wall.

"Who are you?" he asked warily, stumbling awkwardly to his feet with a gasp of pain as Tao rushed to help him. "What do you want?" 

"We're here to feed you," Dongho said with a smile, holding up the bag he held (again). "There's food, water, and some basic medical supplies, and we were told to find out what you needed." 

"I'm Soohyun," Soohyun introduced himself, then introduced his group to the others who hadn't been awake when they'd been brought to the apartment so they knew who was who. "I'm the leader of these hooligans," he added with amusement as Kevin and Dongho looked mildly offended, Eli looking almost proud at the label he'd been teasingly given. "We helped your friends last night, along with Dongwoo's group, which is led by Sunggyu, who isn't here yet." 

Dongwoo looked up at the sound of his name and grinned. "Hey," he greeted the newcomers, waving over at them. "Good morning. And stay away from the cute little one over there. He's mean when it comes to waking people up." He gestured at Xiumin, who snickered. 

Soohyun just grinned. "Sounds just what you need then," he teased, then gestured at Dongho and the others. "Start passing out the food and drinks, guys..." he murmured softly, watching as they began to do as he'd asked. "While I find out what's going on." 

A couple of the men he'd seen hadn't been conscious the night before, the one outside who'd had words with Kevin included. At least he'd gotten the introductions out of the way before the ridiculously tall young man (who'd also been one of the unconscious ones) took their heads off. Cautiously stepping over and around the young men, Soohyun approached Kris, focusing on the young man who appeared to have taken over Suho's leadership duties while the other man slept. 

"What did I ever do to you?" Dongwoo whined, grinning as he went back to talking to Chanyeol and Xiumin, leaving Soohyun to do the dirty work of actually working out what they were going to do next. 

"I'm the leader..." Kris began, then stopped, uncertain of how to explain, since he had no idea what Suho had told them. Leaning heavily on Tao, Kris tried to think around the pain that seemed to worsen with every passing moment. "Suho leads one group of us, and I lead the other," he said finally. "And I'm doing the honours for both of us while Suho is resting. My name is Kris." 

Nodding thoughtfully as Kris spoke, Soohyun gestured to Eli. "Suho mentioned something like that," he said calmly as Eli headed over to him to find out what he wanted. "Eli, he's in pain. Is there anything you can do for him?" He glanced at Kris. "With your permission, of course..." 

Blinking at them warily, Kris didn't know what to expect as Tao's hand tightened around his arm warily before relaxing. He waited to see what Eli's response would be before saying anything, especially since Eli seemed to be looking at him with a very odd expression on his face. 

"I think so," Eli murmured finally. "I can't heal him, though," he added apologetically. "I'm not a healer. I can dim the pain a bit though, just so you can function..." He smiled faintly. "If it's ok with you, that is." 

Kris looked at Soohyun, then at Eli for several long moments, and then over at Tao, who nodded almost imperceptibly, "Ok," he said, nodding. "What do you need me to do?" 

"Lay down," Eli said immediately. "And relax. I can't do very much, but I can help ease the pain a little."

Nodding thoughtfully, Kris looked around; the others looked like they were in good hands, though he wasn't sure about Sehun. Or D.O., for that matter, the younger men looking lost. D.O. looked scared and it worried him, but at the same time, he wasn't in a position to do anything while he could barely think straight.

Laying down, Kris closed his eyes and tried to relax, Tao holding onto his hand. Eli smiled reassuringly at him, then closed his eyes as well, letting his power build up and trying not to wince at the pain he could feel coming from the other man. Working quickly, he did his best to ease the pain, though it would only work for a limited period of time. His power didn't allow for much more than that, and he wasn't going to let Kris ignore his injuries either. 

Soon he was shaking Kris' shoulder, making the other man open his eyes and smile gratefully as he realised the pain had lessened, and considerably. 

"Thank you," he murmured as he sat up, sighing with relief. He hadn't realised just how much the pain had been affecting him. "That helped, a lot." 

"Good, I'm glad," Eli murmured, smiling. "You're welcome." 

 

While Soohyun and Eli talked to and helped Kris, Xiumin slipped out in search of Luhan. He'd seen Chen sneak back in behind the strangers, but Luhan hadn't returned, worrying him. 

"Luhan, are you ok?" he asked, seeing the younger man sitting on the stairs, looking lost. "There's food and water inside, if you want anything?" 

Looking up at Xiumin as he approached, Luhan gave a wan smile and shook his head. "I can wait," he replied softly. "I'd rather not be in there right now..." He felt vaguely unsettled, and really, just wanted to leave the place altogether, but he couldn't do that to his friends, especially when he had to consider the fact that he was a stranger here. 

Xiumin stepped closer. "Are you going to be ok? What's in there that you don't want to be around?" Soohyun's group seemed nice enough to him, even the kid, Dongho, who hadn't been there the night before. Soohyun had explained his absence was as a result of the fact that he was still in school, and hadn't been able to come with the others. 

"Not what," Luhan replied quietly, keeping a wary eye on the door. "Who. Those strangers..." He shuddered, his face twisting in anger. "One of them, short guy with honey-blond hair who they called Kevin, is the one who woke me up." And scared the shit out of him. Considering what they'd all been through, it took a _lot_ to scare him now. "I want to get out of here, Xiumin. There's not enough room here. It's too crowded..." 

Xiumin frowned. "How far out of here?" he asked, a little concerned. They couldn't go too far; this wasn't their planet and if they got lost... "I mean, they're just trying to help. I'm sure they'll find something better for us soon. This was just the best they could come up with on such short notice." 

Ready to pull his hair out with frustration, Luhan stood and began to head up the stairs. He had to get out. "I don't know, Baozi," he said, using the affectionate nickname he'd given Xiumin years before. "But I just can't stay here anymore. It's driving me crazy." 

"Wait! Luhan!" Xiumin called after him, then began to follow him upstairs, sighing. What a pain in the ass, he thought wryly. Luhan had always been headstrong, but if he wasn't careful, he'd land them both in bigger trouble than they could get out of. "Luhan!" 

Once outside, Luhan stopped dead, shock on his face as he came face to face with yet another group of strangers. This couldn't be real. Who were these people? 

"You two look a little lost," Sunggyu smiled, stopping just short of Luhan, nodding to Xiumin. "I'm glad to see you're awake. Are you feeling any better?" 

Startled and not a little unnerved to find this guy seemed to recognise him, Luhan stepped back from him, half hiding himself behind Xiumin warily, only to realise there were still more. "Xiumin, who are these people, and how do they know me?" he asked in their language, wide-eyed and wary. "How do they know who we are?" 

"These are the rest of the people Lay found to help us," Xiumin replied, putting a calming hand on Luhan's shoulder. "Their friend, that guy Dongwoo, is the one who lives here and got us permission to stay, and their other friend is the one who..." His throat tightened and Luhan's eyes narrowed. "Who kept Tao and Sehun from having to send Lay on when he almost died..." 

He turned to Sunggyu, feeling Luhan stiffen under his hand, the younger man's expression pained at the mention of the situation with Lay. 

"He's better, thank you," he murmured in reply. "He's just... wary and shy. And your other friends, Soohyun's group? They're here too, and brought us something to eat and drink."

"I don't want to go back there just yet, Xiumin, please," Luhan practically begged, almost clinging to the older man now. Overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of this unfamiliar place, it still felt much better to him than the claustrophobic surroundings of that basement room. "I want to stay out here." 

"I'll stay out here," Myungsu said suddenly, sitting on the front steps of the apartment block. "There's not enough room for all of us to be down there, you know that as well as I do." He could pretty much guess what was bothering Luhan. At least about the room they'd stayed in. It was easy to tell he didn't want to go back, not that Myungsu could really blame him. He didn't like it down there either. Few of them did. 

Xiumin put his arm around Luhan, giving him a gentle hug. "Fine, we'll stay here," he murmured. "It's ok. Maybe someone could suggest a quieter place that isn't too far from here..." 

Sunggyu nodded at Myungsu and led the rest of them inside, though Sungyeol gave Myungsu a pout. He wasn't going to be allowed to stay behind with his boyfriend and he didn't like that idea, but there was nothing he could do about it other than make his displeasure known to Myungsu before the door closed behind them. 

"Thanks Xiumin," Luhan breathed, the panic in his chest receding slightly. "It's just... Too much. I need room to move." He looked at Myungsu warily, the other man watching him right back with a look that made Luhan feel uneasy. He was almost as creepy and unnerving as the strangers who'd arrived earlier, just in a different way. 

"I know, you and not being in small places," Xiumin murmured back. Luhan had a reason, or so he claimed, and if not, well, it didn't really matter. He didn't like it much there either. 

"Your power," Myungsu burst out suddenly, looking at Xiumin and interrupting Luhan's train of thought, making them both stare at him in surprise. "What can you do? It's like mine, but... subtly different. I'd like to understand it, and you, better." He got to his feet, dusting off his trousers. "But not here." He smiled and gestured. "There's a quiet park close by where we can go and play..." 

"The park sounds like a good idea," Xiumin smiled at Myungsu a little crookedly. "But can you turn off that serial killer glare first? It's a bit..." He shrugged apologetically. "Creepy." 

Blinking at Xiumin, Myungsu laughed sheepishly. "Sorry," he apologised as he began to walk. "I forget you're not used to me...." He wasn't used to them either, though Xiumin and his power fascinated him. He could maybe learn something from the other man, he hoped, still talking as they walked towards the park. 

 

Waiting for Eli to finish with Kris, D.O. felt anxious. He'd felt Xiumin and Luhan leave, though it was weak, as his power didn't work well in these surroundings, and had to tell him, but couldn't interrupt what was obviously something important. Once they'd finished, he approached Kris, his anxiety written all over his face. 

"Kris, Luhan and Xiumin are gone. They left," he murmured softly, ready to get out of the way if Kris lashed out at him. 

Blinking and going pale, Kris stared at D.O. in dismay. "They what?" he asked, softening his voice when the younger man flinched and looked away, biting at his lip. "What happened? Why did they leave? Where did they go?" 

"I don't know," D.O. replied unhappily, looking down at his hands. "All I know is that they're gone. They've left the building." Concentrating a little, though it made him dizzy, he sighed. "I don't think they've gone far, but..."

Dammit. This wasn't happening. Soohyun looked at Eli in alarm. "We need to find them," he said, looking around for Dongho in the crowd. "They can't be left on their own out there yet. Who knows what could happen to them." 

And where were Sunggyu and his lot? They should have been here by now, surely? 

"You wanted me?" Dongho asked brightly, skipping over the blankets tossed haphazardly on the floor to where Soohyun stood. "What's up?" 

"We need to find Xiumin and Luhan before anything happens to them," Soohyun murmured, sighing. "They can't be out there on their own; anything could happen, and if they're hurt..." 

"Gotcha," Dongho nodded, and headed outside to try and find the missing pair. 

Looking relieved when Sunggyu arrived, Soohyun sighed. "We lost a couple of them," he said quietly, one eye on Kris and the young man who still hadn't let go of him. "Luhan and Xiumin. Have you seen them, by any chance? I sent Dongho out to find them." 

Sehun watched, wide-eyed, sitting with his back to the wall and an uneaten bowl of rice in his hands. He knew Luhan hadn't gone far, but he wasn't going to tell these strangers anything. They'd doubtless want to know _how_ he knew, and he didn't feel like explaining it. 

"Yes, Myungsu is with them," Sunggyu replied in amusement. "I guess the taller of the two was feeling a bit claustrophobic down here. We didn't see Dongho though." 

"Here!" Dongho called, slipping back into the room with a cheerful smile on his face. "I found them, but Myungsu-hyung is with them, so they're ok. They're going to the park down the street..." 

Soohyun shook his head. "Luhan," he murmured to Sunggyu, his eyes flickering to Kevin, and then back to the other man. "Myungsu is more than capable of taking care of them, if necessary, so I'm sure it'll be fine." 

Sunggyu nodded, and let Soohyun make the introductions to the men who hadn't met his group yet (and vice versa) and they began the next round of discussions aimed at finding them a better place to stay on a more permanent basis. The room seemed a lot smaller with more of them awake now. Hardly surprising Luhan didn't want to be there, just for that reason alone. 

 

Luhan followed behind the others, looking around with wary interest until they reached the park, then sighed in relief. Peace, for the first time in as long as he could remember. It made him sad to think that it had really been that long, but at least here, there were things he could use to practice with, to keep from becoming bored or out of practice. 

"It's nice here, Xiumin," he said quietly, a serene expression appearing on his face. The only thing lacking now was Yixing's calming presence for him to be truly happy. "I want to stay here..." 

Xiumin looked around, just as delighted as Luhan was. "Wow, this place is really nice," he murmured with a smile. "Are there a lot of places like this around here?" he asked. "D.O. would just love it here. Scratch that, they _all_ would love it here." 

He grinned at Luhan. "We can stay as long as they let us, and then we can come back," he added. "Again and again..." He glanced at Myungsu. "Play, you said? What did you mean by that?" 

Without waiting for an invitation (not that he felt he needed one; it felt implicit in what Myungsu had said before bringing them here), Luhan smiled and waved a hand, fallen branches and leaves levitating in the air at his command. With a flick of his fingers, they rained gently back down to the ground as Myungsu watched in rapt amazement. 

"Wow," he breathed, his face lighting up. "We don't have anyone who can do that. That's so cool." 

Luhan looked at Myungsu, his expression becoming impassive. "Not so cool when you have to used it against your own people," he murmured, looking away with a bleak look in his eyes. The leaves rustled as he moved his hand, branches lifting and then slamming against a nearby tree trunk, splintering into bits which scattered every which way. "Have you ever had to kill anyone?" His tone was soft but bitter as he continued to 'play' with the dead leaves. 

His smile fading, Xiumin sat down on the ground, his eyes narrowed as he watched Luhan play with the debris on the ground. He'd gotten very good at this. The next time the leaves hit the ground, he coated them in frost, doing the same to the tree branches. 

"Worst part about that was," he murmured, concentrating on what he was doing, "They thought they were doing the right thing." He shuddered suddenly and got to his feet, shoving his hands into his pockets. "It makes me cold, doing this now," he added with a sigh. "How close are you to your warm season?" 

Myungsu stared at them both, not sure what to say at that point. They were so different and had clearly been through more than anyone had a right to put them through. How they were still sane, he had no idea, but then again, he didn't know them. Maybe they weren't, though they hadn't tried or even implied they would hurt him or his friends. If anything, they seemed to just want peace and quiet. 

"It's spring now," he said quietly, reversing the frost Xiumin had covered the leaves and branches with. "Summer isn't that far off, and then it will be very hot." Myungsu glanced at Xiumin. "I'm sorry these things happened to you and your friends, but we mean no harm, and just want to help you as much as we can," he added, his expression earnest. "But please understand that we will fight to keep our people and our home safe, if we have to. Even from you, should it become necessary..." 

"Summer," Xiumin murmured, tilting his head back with his eyes closed as he basked in the sunlight. "You said it would become very hot? I can't do much then. I used to hate it so much..." At Myungsu's comment about protecting his friends and home, Xiumin smiled faintly. "We won't do anything to your world, or your people..." 

He kept his fears that they had learned to track Kai and would follow them unspoken, not wanting to upset Luhan. He hoped it wouldn't happen, but they would have to eventually plan for it, he knew that, and was sure Kris and Suho knew as well. 

Luhan looked away, and then sighed. "I'm sorry," he murmured apologetically. "I didn't mean to lose myself like that. We just want peace... I don't want to fight anymore. None of us ever wanted to..." 

Nodding in acknowledgement to what Xiumin and Luhan had said, Myungsu sighed, puffing his cheeks out. "It's different for me," he said, giving Xiumin a curious glance. "My power isn't weather-dependent." He chuckled softly, rubbing at his neck. "Which is a good thing in the summer, because I don't like the heat, at all." 

"Oh, neither is mine," Xiumin replied, "But I'm not as strong as you are. It just melts faster. I don't like the heat any more than you do, but..." He shrugged. "I don't know. I would just rather not do anything at all with it and summer is as good a reason as any not to put forth the effort." 

Letting Xiumin and Myungsu discuss their powers without him, Luhan began to wander around the small park, 'playing' with the leaves and branches he found along the way. Careful to keep within earshot, he leaned against a tree trunk, his eyes closed.

 _Yixing, wake up soon_ , he thought sadly. _I miss you._

Myungsu's eyebrows rose at Xiumin's insistence that he wouldn't use his power, even to help himself. "Not even to keep yourself cool?" he asked, his tone light and teasing. "It comes in handy for that sort of thing." He looked around uneasily, suddenly realising Luhan wasn't anywhere around. "Where did Luhan go?" 

Turning to point where he'd last heard Luhan, Xiumin shrugged. "Over there, I think," he said, hearing the familiar crunch of leaves a moment later. "And no, not even then," he added, sticking his hand back into his pocket and shuddering. "It... I just can't." 

Blinking at Xiumin, Myungsu couldn't understand his reluctance, but maybe it had to do with whatever had happened to them. He wasn't going to ask, not wanting to upset either man more than they already were. 

Catching Myungsu's look, Xiumin shook his head. "Sorry," he apologised, "It was a long war, and we lost both our worlds in it. None of us are really... fine. We just need time to rest and recover, I think." Or he hoped that's all it would take. Some had more mental and emotional scars and issues than others, but they would all help each other. 

Myungsu nodded; he could certainly understand his feelings, at least a little. "I hope you get that time here," he said quietly, then stopped to listen to the silence. He couldn't hear Luhan at all anymore and it worried him. "Are you sure Luhan is ok? I haven't heard anything for a while..." 

Nervous, he began to look for Luhan while trying to keep Xiumin in view; he couldn't afford to lose both men. Not only would Sunggyu kill him, but their leaders would kill him as well, he was sure. 

Xiumin stiffened and looked around as well, suddenly realising that he hadn't heard Luhan for quite a while either. "Dammit, this is just all going wrong," he muttered under his breath. Where had Luhan gone? He headed off in the general direction where he'd last heard Luhan, trying to make sure he kept where Myungsu could see him. 

Having the same idea as Xiumin, Myungsu went in that direction as well, and gave a shout of surprise and dismay as he nearly tripped over Luhan, the older man sprawled unconscious just off one of the park's pathways. He didn't look to be injured, but the way he was laying didn't look natural. It looked as though he'd fainted or something, worrying Myungsu even more. 

Turning sharply when he heard Myungsu's shout, Xiumin ran over to where he could see the other man, bent over something or rather, _someone_ , lying on the ground. 

"Oh man, Kris is going to kill me," he groaned once he'd reached them, verifying that it was Luhan. "You idiot. What were you thinking?" He looked up at Myungsu. "Can you get... Oh... no. He's still out." Without access to Kai and his power, Xiumin honestly had no idea what to do next. 

Kneeling next to Luhan, Myungsu checked to make sure he was still alive, then looked over at Xiumin. "I can carry him back to the apartment so someone there can see why he's fainted like this," he said, draping one of Luhan's arms loosely over his shoulder and starting to pick him up. He was lighter than Myungsu expected him to be, and he was able to lift him easily. "Does he faint like this often?" 

"No," Xiumin murmured, "Yes. No... I don't." He took a deep breath to try and calm himself down. This was turning into a disaster. "No, not usually. He's just been drained, and isn't really ready to be up and about yet, and I think I'm going to strangle Lay..." None of it made sense, but he was too upset to even think about what he was saying. 

Glancing at Xiumin in concern, Myungsu tried to reassure him that Luhan would be fine. "I'm sure he'll be ok once they work out what's wrong with him," he said, shifting Luhan a little to make it easier. "Would you prefer to carry him, or is it ok if I...?" 

"Yes, it's fine, go ahead," Xiumin replied, feeilng scattered. "I'm sorry, I'm not really all... connected right now. We should just take him back..." 

Myungsu nodded and started back, Luhan securely in his arms. "It'll be ok," he murmured softly. "We will help as much as we can..." 

Xiumin nodded silently and followed him back to the apartment block, his hands still shoved deeply in his pockets. He glanced at Luhan from time to time, worried about the younger man. This just wasn't normal for him.


	5. Chapter 4 - Day One, Drama pt2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luhan is brought back, where they discover he is ill. Hoya meets D.O. and Baekhyun and takes them under his wing. D.O. finally gathers his courage to make a confession, Lay is lectured for what he did, and Sehun breaks down publicly, while Tao breaks down in private.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See character details and powers in the prologue notes.

Hoya sat next to D.O. and Baekhyun, the wide-eyed foreign earth power staring at his hands. "My name is Hoya," he said, smiling gently to avoid scaring D.O. any more than it seemed he already was. "We have similar powers." 

"I know," D.O. murmured, smiling shyly. "I didn't expect that at all, but it's still nice all the same. It means I'm not alone." He glanced at Chanyeol and Dongwoo, then at Baekhyun, biting at his lip. "You take good care of yourself and your part of this world." When Hoya gave him an odd look, D.O. looked away, flushing. "The earth told me."

Startled, Hoya nodded thoughtfully. "I do my best," he replied, wondering why D.O. was looking at the others the way he was, but not wanting to pry. 

Feeling awkward, Baekhyun stood and stretched, reaching up until his back cracked, then sighed as he began to tidy up the blankets around them, folding and setting them aside. Normally Kyungsu would have done this, or asked someone to do it, but since he hadn't... 

"Baekhyun?" D.O. asked, feeling nervous as Baekhyun moved away from him, leaving him alone with Hoya. "Can you... come and keep me company with Hoya, please?" As much as Hoya felt like a nice person, D.O. still felt wary and nervous. Maybe it was because he was effectively cut off from the earth, but he felt lost and disoriented. 

Baekhyun looked over at him and grinned, settling down next to them again. "You should go outside soon," he murmured, glancing at Hoya. "All this... stuff is in the way, isn't it? Is it the same for you?" he added, his question aimed at Hoya as he gestured around the room. "This blocks your sense of the earth?" 

Both young men nodded at the questions, D.O. unhappily and Hoya somewhat surprised at being asked the question. "I don't want to go out by myself though," D.O. murmured, looking down at his hands again. "I'll just have to wait until someone is free to go with me."

Putting his arm around D.O. in sympathy, Hoya nodded to Baekhyun again. "My power works that way too," he replied with a sigh. "That's why I don't like this room. I live in a ground floor apartment for that reason, and I have a walled garden so I can spend as much time outdoors as I need, whenever I need..." 

Giving Hoya an evaluating look, Baekhyun stretched again. "I'll go with you," he said, still looking at Hoya. "And maybe Hoya can show us a place that will help you. Besides," he added with a grin, "Luhan and Xiumin are out and about, so there's no reason we can't go either. We're all going to need to get out of here soon anyway." 

"You're not the only one feeling stuck. You know Suho would be if he was awake, and I'm surprised Sehun hasn't made a break for it yet." He looked over at Sehun, still sitting alone by himself, and sighed. "It's too dark down here. We need to move."

He carefully didn't add himself to the list, though he was sure D.O. knew how he felt; as a light-user, Baekhyun needed sunlight to be able to function properly, and it was definitely too dark down here and he didn't like it any more than the others did. 

Glancing over at Sehun at the same time as Baekhyun mentioned his name, D.O. sighed. "I think Sehunnie is waiting for Suho to wake up before he bolts, because he knows Suho won't let anything happen to him. He doesn't really trust anyone else." Except maybe Luhan, who wasn't there, or Kai, who was still unconscious. 

He looked at Hoya, then at Baekhyun. "I'd like to leave, but I don't want to trouble anyone..." 

Hoya chuckled and got to his feet, holding his hands out to the two men. "Come on, let's go before anyone takes it into their heads to stop us," he said with a wink as Baekhyun took his hand and reached for D.O. as well, looking over at Sunggyu. "Hyung, I'm taking Baekhyun and D.O. outside for a little while. We probably won't go far..." 

"Come on," Baekhyun urged D.O. with a smile. "You aren't a bother, you aren't troubling anyone, and honestly, if you don't go, I might start troubling someone. I want the sun..." 

Taking Baekhyun's hand, and then Hoya's, D.O. let them tug him to his feet, then stood nervously looking at the floor while Hoya made his way to the door. He wasn't sure he was ready to leave the relative safety of the basement, but he knew he had to touch earth or he'd go crazy, just like Baekhyun needed the sun.

"Come on," Hoya smiled from the doorway, holding it open for them. "Let's go." 

Baekhyun tugged D.O. into a walk, keeping hold of his hand to keep him moving and to ground him a little bit. Following Hoya up the stairs and out into the street, Baekyhun sighed with relief as soon as the sunlight hit his face. 

"It was just too dark down there," he murmured softly. 

Nodding in agreement, D.O. felt able to breathe now, his eyes closing for a moment as he sought to ground and centre himself. He wasn't quite where he needed to be, but close enough. 

"I need..." he began, opening his eyes and biting at his lip, wary of articulating what he needed so openly. It had been used against him before. 

Hoya smiled gently and took his other hand. "I know," he murmured, leading them across the street to where there was a small strip of grass, sighing in pleasure as he sat down. "It's not the greatest, but it'll do, I hope?" he smiled, urging D.O. to sit with him. "There's a proper park not far away, but I didn't think you could wait that long. That's probably where your friends went with Myungsu..." 

Baekhyun sat down beside D.O. and leaned back on his hands with his eyes closed and his head tilted back, finally able to relax a bit more. "I'm really glad Lay found you," he said softly. "We would have been more of a mess without help." 

Glancing at Baekhyun, Hoya sighed. "No offence, but you wouldn't have lasted the night," he said quietly, looking around warily to make sure they weren't attracting too much attention. D.O. was laying on the grass, his eyes closed and a happy smile lighting up his face, making Hoya chuckle. "Most of the parks are pretty safe during the day, but at night, they're dangerous and attract some not very nice people." 

"As powerful as you guys may be, you weren't and still aren't in any state to defend yourselves." 

Laughing softly and sharing a glance with D.O., Baekhyun smiled at Hoya, an edge to it. "We would have been able to, don't worry," he murmured. "It wouldn't have been pretty, but we would have won. We've learned to fight dirty, and remember, we're not what you might consider normal..." 

Making a non-committal sound, Hoya shrugged, unconvinced. Looking at Baekhyun, lines of pain around his eyes and mouth, Hoya was certain that he would have missed most of it, if they had had to fight. The other man's clothes were still bloodstained, both men still dressed in the outfits from their own world which made them stand out here like sore thumbs. Speaking of which... 

"Are you sure you're all right?" Hoya asked Baekhyun, concern in his eyes, the tone of his voice making D.O. open his eyes and look up at his friend in worry. "You were pretty badly injured..." 

Looking down at his clothes, Baekhyun grimaced. "I am ok, mostly," he replied. "Lay would have gotten the worst of my injuries, so it's not like I can't function..." He looked away, tilting his head back to the sun and basking in the light. 

"They surprised me. They don't usually go after me since I don't think I'm much of a threat to them," he added, ignoring D.O.'s snort of derision. "Kris, Kai, Chen... They go for them." Baekhyun smirked and looked at D.O. pointedly. "And D.O., but he gets them back. They call him 'the destroyer'." He tousled the younger man's hair. "You'd never guess just by looking at him, would you?" 

Brushing Baekhyun's hand away from his hair without opening his eyes, D.O.'s smile faded. "Don't call me that, Baekhyun," he murmured, his expression and voice pained. "I hate that name, you know that." Sitting up stiffly, he opened his eyes to look at his friend, then looked away. "You don't like it when they call you the magician, or at least you didn't used to." 

Baekhyun looked away. "I know, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." he murmured, feeling like the stupidest idiot for mentioning the name his friend hated so much, even if the description fit. 

"And they got Kris when he came to help you..." Being reminded of their defeat and escape and the cost of it made D.O.'s eyes fill with tears. "I don't want to fight anymore. I never wanted to." 

Hoya nodded sympathetically, patting D.O.'s shoulder. None of them liked fighting, but sometimes circumstances decided otherwise. Looking up when he saw Myungsu and Xiumin, the younger man carrying the unconscious Luhan in his arms, he stood up in alarm, followed by D.O. and Baekhyun. 

"What happened?" he asked worriedly, heading towards them to try and help. "Is he ok?" 

D.O.'s eyes widened. "Luhan?" His heart skipped a beat. First Lay, and now Luhan? Just what was going on? "What happened?" he asked Xiumin anxiously, sharing concerned glances with Baekhyun. 

"He just fainted, the idiot," Xiumin replied, eyeing them both. "He didn't sleep, didn't eat anything, what else should we have expected?" He sighed. "You guys stay outside. You still don't look very well." He gave D.O. a wan smile. "There's a lovely park, really nice, back there if you want to go. We'll find you, if you do..." 

Taking Baekhyun's hand and squeezing gently to acknowledge his apology, D.O. glanced at Hoya at Xiumin's words. He wanted to go, but at the same time, Hoya had said they weren't going to be going far, so he didn't want to get him into trouble. 

Hoya sighed. It seemed some things were literally universal. "Tell Sunggyu-hyung I've taken them to the park," he told Myungsu, who just nodded. "They were getting ready to find somewhere for our new friends to stay, I think? Tell them to call when they're ready to go, or get Hyunnie to call..." 

"I'll let him know," Myungsu replied a little tersely: he wanted to get Luhan back inside and to his friends. Plus his arms were starting to get tired from carrying him, though he was far from being too heavy. "Just go. I'll tell them..." 

Wanting to help with Luhan, Baekhyun let go of D.O.'s hand, deliberately not seeing how his face fell when he went to the door. "I'll catch up," he murmured, ignoring D.O.'s silent, wide-eyed plea to stay with him. "You go on. I'll find you. Open the door, Xiumin..." he added to Xiumin, who slipped around them to open the door. 

Myungsu shook his head. "No need," he replied gently. "Go with your friend and Hoya-hyung. "It's not very far now, and I can manage just fine. You need to rest and your friend needs you." He smiled warmly. "Thanks for the offer, though..." 

"You're sure?" Baekhyun asked hesitantly, biting his lip when Myungsu just nodded and took Luhan inside, leaving him outside with the others. 

As Myungsu turned down Baekhyun's offer, Hoya patted D.O.'s shoulder reassuringly. "We'll wait for Baekhyun," he said with a smile, correctly interpreting the younger man's look. "I'm not taking any chances on him getting lost, or worse, taken advantage of by anyone because they can tell he's not from here." 

The kid was crazy if he thought Hoya was going to let him wander around, even in this area, on his own. He didn't know the city, let alone their world at all, and if anything happened to him, Hoya would never be able to forgive himself. 

Sighing as it felt like they were all conspiring against him, Baekhyun returned to D.O., slinging an arm around his shoulders. "Let's go find this park then, and get you looking better." He ignored the fact that it could (and probably did) apply to him as well, glancing at Hoya. To be honest, he wasn't really that keen on going back down into that dark basement again if he could possibly help it, so maybe it was for the best that Myungsu had turned down his offer. 

Hoya nodded to Xiumin, then began to lead the way to the park both he and Xiumin had mentioned to the younger men. 

 

Carrying Luhan down to the basement, Myungsu found himself the centre of attention as everyone stared in surprise at the unconscious man in his arms. Kris immediately went to take Luhan from him, laying him down carefully on a nearby mattress and covering him with a warm blanket. Shaking his arms out, Myungsu went to sit next to Sungyeol as Luhan's friends began to fuss over him. 

"What happened?" Kris asked Xiumin, tucking the blanket in to make sure Luhan was kept warm. "He was fine earlier, wasn't he? How did he end up like this?" 

"He didn't eat anything and he didn't sleep at all," Xiumin replied, sighing with frustration. "I also think he's just not as recovered as he thinks he is from what happened before we came here." He sank down against the wall. "What about Lay and Kai?" he asked, glancing at their other unconscious friends.

"Still unconscious," Kris sighed, shrugging. He'd have to wake Suho, much though he was reluctant to do so because the younger leader needed to rest. He turned to Tao. "Can you wake Suho for me, please?" he asked the younger man, Tao looking over at where Suho was sleeping with a conflicted expression on his face. 

"Do I have to?" he asked, speaking quietly in their native language. "He needs to sleep and we can look after Luhan on our own just fine." Stubborn, Tao looked at the strangers with a thoughtful expression. "Maybe the strangers could wake Kai and Yixing?" he suggested. "Or at least Kai. He should be close to recovered by now, surely." 

"I agree with Tao," Chen spoke up in the common tongue, since the others from this world seemed to be able to understand it. "If for no other reason than we can explain to Lay in excruciating detail why this was the wrong thing for him to do, so that the next time he does it, then maybe he'll start to feel a little guilty about it!" 

Tao grinned. "You're still mad at Yixing, I can tell," he murmured, smirking. "Good luck with that. You know full well he won't listen." 

"We should all be mad at him, the idiot," Chen murmured angrily. "And yes, I'm still mad. I'll probably stay mad at him for as long as I live." He glared at Tao. "And if you like, I'll stay mad at you too!" 

Kris swatted Tao gently, then looked up at Soohyun, who was watching them with concern. "Can you wake Lay and Kai, please?" he asked tiredly. "They need to eat..." 

Soohyun glanced at Kevin, an eyebrow raised. "Kevin?" he asked, knowing the younger man would understand what he was asking. It was more his area of expertise than Soohyun's. 

Smiling, Kevin nodded. "Of course," he replied, going to kneel between Kai and Lay with his hands resting on their heads and his eyes closed. He was careful to ease them awake this time (having learned his lesson with Luhan), although finding Kai proved a little harder than he'd expected. They both were starting to stir by the time he opened his eyes, exhausted. 

Kai was the first to awaken, startled and blinking furiously when he realised he was surrounded by unfamiliar faces alongside the more familiar ones. Abruptly disappearing and reappearing beside Suho, Kai looked around warily. 

Tao moved quickly and soon had Kai's hand in his. "It's ok, Kai," he said as gently as he could to reassure the younger man that they were safe. "We're safe, with friends..." While he was trying to comfort and reassure Kai, Lay began to wake. 

Opening his eyes slowly, Lay felt distinctly odd. For one thing, he hadn't expected to wake up at all, and now Kris was looking down at him with such a strange expression on his face that he wondered just what was going on. Then he saw Chen's face, the other man's expression making him groan as he struggled to sit up. 

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked, surprised to find his voice so weak. Or maybe not so surprised, given he'd been dying, and now... was clearly not. "You're giving me a complex..." 

"Like what?" Chen asked, anything but innocently, then got to his feet. "You so much as try to heal anyone right now and I'll take care of that problem myself and we won't have..." He took a deep breath to try and calm himself down, letting it out slowly. "Ask them," he said coolly, gesturing at the others around the room. "I'm going out to find D.O. and Baekhyun. Could somebody show me where they are?" 

Getting to his feet again and glancing wryly at his boyfriend, Myungsu offered to take him. "I'll show you. It's not far..." he said, welcoming anything that would get him away from what was sure to be a train wreck in the making. He hated that sort of thing. 

Nodding his thanks, Chen ignored the hurt looks Lay was giving him and left with Myungsu. He was tired of this and wanted the others to deal with the healer so he didn't have to; he knew if he said anything more, it would ruin everything between them and he didn't want that to happen. 

Kris sighed as Lay stared after Chen with hurt and confusion in his wide eyes. "You were dying, Yixing. How do you expect him to feel? Or any of us, for that matter." He gestured around the room. "Tao stopped time for you, and one of the friends you found for us brought you back." His expression hardened. "But Chen is right," he added, a little of his anger and sadness showing in the tone of his voice. "You're not to heal anyone until you've fully recovered, and that is final." 

Lay looked down at his hands, not knowing what to say. They didn't understand. They never had. "I had no choice, Wufan," he murmured in their language. "I had to help them find us, and-" 

"You could have found another way," Kris interrupted, sighing heavily. "You were dying..." He wasn't even sure Lay was listening to him now as the healer's eyes fell on Luhan's still body, going wide with worry. As he made to go to him, Kris held him back. "No, Yixing, you can't..." 

"But..." Lay protested, his gaze still on Luhan. 

"No, I'm not going to watch you do this again," Xiumin said flatly, also using their language as he went to help Kris keep Lay away from Luhan. "Luhan is well enough. You panicked all of us with that stunt you pulled, and then to ask that of Chen..." He shook his head, trying to keep the obstruction in his throat from stopping his words. "No more until you're fully recovered, and even then, only what's absolutely necessary. And I'm not sure I even trust you to know what that is at this point..." 

Staring down at his hands again, Lay didn't know how to respond to that, his friends' anger and pain hitting him like a ton of bricks. But at the same time, it hurt that they didn't understand, that he was a healer first and foremost, and he had no choice but to help where he was needed. Even at the cost of his own life. 

"You don't understand," he murmured, close to tears. "You just don't..." 

Soohyun shifted uncomfortably, listening to the newcomers berating their healer (it was obvious from the pain in their eyes and voices), and when the healer mumbled something, looking like he was going to cry, Soohyun felt he had no choice but to step in. 

"I'm not sure what's going on but if they're telling you to stop healing people to the point of collapsing yourself, I'm going to have to agree with them," Soohyun said quietly, making the other men turn to stare at him. "You're not just the only healer we have between all our groups here, but you are their friend. Don't you understand?" 

He knelt beside Lay and patted his leg gently. "They're upset because they care about you and don't want you to die. Not because they'd lose their only healer..." 

"And I refuse to let that happen as well," he added as Lay bit his lip, tears in his eyes. "There's nobody here who is in any danger of dying, so they can recover on their own, just like we do when we're sick or injured." 

"I..." Lay stopped, unsure of what to say to this stranger, the tears now spilling over. Putting his hands over his face, he began to cry quietly, his heart aching. 

Kris knelt and put his arms around Lay, squeezing gently. "Soohyun's right," he murmured as Lay sobbed in his arms. "You're our friend and we care about you." He glanced at Luhan, wondering if the older man's feelings for Lay ran deeper than he was admitting. "Please don't do that again..." 

Xiumin slumped against the wall and closed his eyes. He did understand, at least a little bit, he felt. The desperate need to make sure everyone was ok in the wake of that last horrid battle, to try and get out of the whole 'fight for your life' mentality... It wasn't easy. 

"I think he'll feel better if he gets some food and water into him," Woohyun said, reaching blindly behind him. Sungyeol put a bottle of water and a bowl of rice into his hands and he went to sit next to them. "You're drained, tired, nearly died, and you haven't had food or real rest since you got here," he added softly. "So eat, and then sleep instead of being unconscious, and things will hopefully be a little easier to handle." 

"And if you want, there's the spare bedroom you could use in my apartment," Dongwoo chimed in from the other side of the room where he still had his arms around Chanyeol, the younger man's eyes closed as he tried to soak up as much heat from Dongwoo as he could, while he could. 

Lay blinked at Woohyun, wiping at his eyes as he recognised the man's voice. "You're... Woohyun, the one who replied to my call," he murmured haltingly, pulling away from Kris to look at the other man. "Thank you, for helping us..." 

"That would be me," Woohyun replied with an easy smile. "I'm glad we got to you in time. As I understand it, it was pretty touch-and-go with you..." 

"I was ready to die," Lay said simply, ignoring Sehun and Kai's sharp gasps of shock and Kris and Tao's angry expressions. "That is what I was trained to do, after all." He looked around at his friends, his eyes lingering on Xiumin, then Luhan. "We were all trained to fight until we died." 

"You're an idiot, Yixing," Tao muttered angrily, letting go of Kai. "We're the last ones left. We couldn't..."

Xiumin scoffed, falling into their language again. This was too personal to discuss where the others could understand them. "That's what I mean," he said, his eyes cold. "I don't trust you to know when to stop. Killing yourself to keep us alive doesn't really help, you know that, right?" 

"And asking Luhan to live without you is like asking D.O. to do without the Earth. Or Baekhyun without sunlight." He glared at Lay. "You are the biggest idiot of the lot of us, and you're supposed to be smarter than that." 

Lay stared at Xiumin, his face flushing. "I don't know what you mean," he said finally, looking at Luhan before looking down at his hands. "And I just..." He sighed heavily. "You don't understand, Xiumin. Nobody does." The imperative to heal was instinctive, as much a necessity to him as breathing. It hurt not being allowed or able to help. 

Snorting with derision, Xiumin sighed. "It's not that you don't," he said tiredly. "It's that you won't. And no, I don't understand, I'm sorry." 

Sighing, Lay didn't answer Xiumin. He didn't know what to do with the implication that Luhan felt more for him than simple friendship. If anything happened to him... The tears threatening again, Lay pulled himself together forcefully as he glanced at Dongwoo. 

"Luhan needs your spare bed more," he said to the other man quietly, worry in his eyes. "He's... ill..." 

Kris' eyes went wide with surprise and dismay. "I thought it was just due to him refusing to sleep and not eating," he murmured, sharing concerned glances with Xiumin. He looked at Lay, and then Luhan worriedly. "How could he be ill?" 

"Ill?" Kevin asked wearily. He still felt wrung-out from waking Lay and Kai, and couldn't quite get himself together. "How?" 

Lay glanced at Kevin nervously. "I don't know how to describe it, but..." He looked at Kris, then down at his hands yet again. "He was drained and would have died if we hadn't come here, but I think the trip might have been too much for him..." Frustrated, he sighed. "None of us are used to your world, so illnesses that are common to you could be dangerous for us, and vice versa..." 

It wouldn't surprise him if he ended up sick as well, under the circumstances. He'd almost died, and as Woohyun had said, he was still not quite out of the woods yet. Lost in his thoughts, it took him a few moments to realise he needed to get Luhan into this spare bed Dongwoo had mentioned, before his illness got worse. 

Looking over at where he sat with Chanyeol, though Chanyeol was now more awake and happier-looking than he had been in a while, Lay caught Dongwoo's attention. "Could you get someone to move Luhan to your apartment?" he asked politely, worry in his eyes. "He should be in a proper bed." Lay ignored the implication that so should he. He wasn't ill... yet. "And is there someone who can see to him? To help him?" 

Dongwoo smiled and nodded, getting to his feet and pulling Chanyeol up with him. "Can try," he murmured, glancing at Sungyeol. "Do you think you could do something for him?" he asked. "Give him some of your power or something?" 

Sungyeol blinked at the older man and stood up, scratching at his neck. "I'm not a healer, but I can try." He went to kneel beside Luhan to try anyway, the others making room for him. He glanced at Lay, who looked thoughtful. 

"It's better than nothing," Lay said, sighing. "It could help him fight whatever is making him ill." 

Nodding, Sungyeol bent over Luhan, his eyes closed in concentration. It wasn't long before he opened them again and sighed, looking at Lay apologetically and shaking his head. "I'm sorry, there's not much I can do for him at all," he apologised as Lay glanced at Kris, then at Xiumin, almost begging with his eyes for their permission to let him do something. When Kris shook his head, his expression firmly blank, Lay looked like he was going to burst into tears, making Sungyeol feel sorry for the healer. "I'm really sorry..." 

Shaking his head, Lay looked down, closing his eyes to hide the pain. What were they going to do now? "Do you not have healers? Or doctors, or anyone like that?" he asked softly, desperation in his voice. There had to be someone who could help Luhan if they weren't going to let him. 

Eli's voice was quiet as he answered Lay's question. "Doctors cost money here," he replied, regret in his voice. "Not many of us can afford it, so we try to take care of ourselves as best we can, and make do when we can't..." 

"Give him time," Xiumin said softly. "He might just get better on his own. We've been spoiled having you to help us, but we need to be more careful about how we make use of your abilities, or we won't have you around, and that would be a problem..." He sighed. "We'd rather have you here and not doing anything, than doing too much and..." 

"And rest is what you all need," Sunggyu added, interrupting Xiumin apologetically; he didn't want to get into another round of arguments when Luhan (and Lay) needed a bed and rest. "Dongwoo, can you take them up and get them settled?" 

Dongwoo nodded with a bright smile, picking up Lay while Chanyeol picked up Luhan. "You need some rest too," he said, grinning when Lay gave a startled cry and threw his arms around Dongwoo's neck, his eyes tightly closed with fright. 

"I don't like this," Lay murmured shakily in his own language, burying his face in Dongwoo's chest so he wouldn't have to see anything. He hated being carried, even if it was necessary. "Xiumin, this isn't fair..." 

Kris went to wake Suho to tell him what was going on as Sehun stood up, clinging stubbornly to Luhan's hand. He'd crawled over when Luhan had been brought in and stuck by his side the entire time, watching the others with blank eyes as he held Luhan's hand. The younger man's dependence on Luhan had worried Kai and Xiumin, and it seemed they'd been right. 

"Sehunnie, let go," Kai said in exasperation as he stood up too, albeit a little unsteadily, blinking at Kris as he went to steady him. He still felt a bit off from being unconscious for so long. "They're looking after him, and you don't want to get sick too, do you?" 

"I don't care," Sehun replied stubbornly, ignoring Kai and trying to follow Chanyeol from the room until he was forced to let go by the narrow doorway. "I want to help Luhan." He glanced at Lay, his expression darkening for a moment. 

Sighing, Xiumin shook his head at Lay. "I had nothing to do with it," he murmured, getting up to capture Sehun at the doorway before he could get through. "Stay here," he added quietly as he firmly walked Sehun away from the door and back to where he'd been sitting. "You might not care if you get sick, but we do."

Sehun glared angrily at Xiumin but was unable to get away from him, his anger growing as Dongwoo and Chanyeol took the opportunity to leave, getting on the elevator and disappearing. "I want to be with Luhan like Lay is," he sulked, staring at the door. "Don't understand why he doesn't see me as anything more than a friend." 

He turned on Xiumin, his eyes narrowed. "It's not fair. Why him? Why Lay and not me? I've been there with him, tried to help him, and he doesn't even see me. What do I have to do to get him to notice me?"

As he spoke, his voice rose, and with it, a small gust of wind that began to whip at their clothing, Kai's eyes widening. 

"Sehunnie, stop it," he murmured, shaking his head. "This isn't the time or place for something like this. We can't answer your questions and you shouldn't be using your power down here. Not like this..." 

Kris had just managed to get Suho to wake up, the younger leader blinking in shock at Sehun's words. It seemed he was having a breakdown of some sort, and while they were ill-equipped to deal with it, they had no choice. 

"Sehun!" Suho barked, startling the younger man into looking at him warily. "Stop it, now!" 

Xiumin gave Sehun a sharp shake, pulling him closer into the corner. "Stop it," he snapped. "Kai's right. Not here, not now. You can't do this now." Not that any time would be a good time to break down like this, but he couldn't remember when Sehun had last lost control like this. 

Glaring at the others angrily, the atmosphere in the room became even more tense, the wind picking up instead of dying down. "You're just making excuses," Sehun snarled, trying to pull away from Xiumin. "You're always making excuses. It's either I'm too young or I don't understand, or you can't answer my questions, but I don't believe you!" He struggled in Xiumin's hold. "You just don't want me to be with Luhan! Why? Tell me!" 

As Sehun became increasingly hysterical, Suho stood up and tried to fight his way through the wind that had picked up as the younger man lost control over his emotions. "Sehun, I don't know why you're being like this, but it has nothing to do with you or your feelings for Luhan," he said as calmly as he could, sighing softly. "He's ill and needs to be in a proper bed, that's all. Nothing more, and nothing less." 

Kris had hurriedly informed him of the situation, including the fact that Lay had been awakened and had to be lectured to keep from wearing himself back into unconsciousness trying to heal Luhan. 

"And Lay is not well himself, which is why he has been taken to bed as well." 

"I will knock you out if you don't stop this," Xiumin hissed into Sehun's ear as the younger man struggled against him, his eyes wild. "And then you won't get any answers at all, so calm down, or so help me, you'll regret ever having started this." 

Sunggyu glanced at Kevin, opening his mouth to see if he could do anything, but knew almost right away that he couldn't; he sat cross-legged where they'd left him, his elbows braced on his knees and his head bowed, his energy spent from bringing back Kai and Lay. 

Chen and Myungsu returned from the park, staring in surprise at the enclosed windstorm. "What's going on?" Chen asked, glancing at Kris and Suho with wide eyes. This wasn't normal at all, and scared him. 

When things escalated dangerously, Soohyun had had enough. It was clear the two young leaders were struggling to deal with the younger man's breakdown, and his own team was exhausted from helping the others. That left him as the only one who could really do anything without hurting Sehun. Concentrating, he reached out with his power and pushed, sending Sehun to sleep, the younger man collapsing suddenly into Xiumin's arms. The wind instantly dying as Sehun collapsed, Soohyun sighed, opening his eyes. 

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't let him continue and possibly hurt anyone," he apologised as Tao and Kai stared at him wide-eyed. "He's asleep now, and will remain so for a few hours, and hopefully by then, he'll have sorted himself out." 

Xiumin caught Sehun before he fell very far, laying him down gently and pulling a blanket over him. "Thank you," he said, leaning wearily against the wall. That had been extremely frightening, though he didn't really want to admit it. 

"It's fine," Suho murmured to Soohyun, picking himself up off the floor where he'd fallen when the winds died out. "I don't know why he's lost control like this. Normally he's the quietest of us all..." He sighed and rubbed at his face. "None of us are feeling our best, but that's not really any excuse for this kind of behaviour, I'm sorry." 

Chen glanced around, his face going pale when he noticed that neither Luhan nor Lay were anywhere to be found. "Where... where are Lay and Luhan?" he asked, his voice breaking with worry and fear. 

"They were taken to Dongwoo's apartment to sleep because of Luhan's illness, and Lay is still unwell himself," Kris replied tiredly. "Chanyeol went with him and they'll make sure Lay doesn't do anything stupid, like trying to heal Luhan when he's not supposed to." 

Or at least he hoped they would. Kris was pretty sure Chanyeol would, but Dongwoo was still an unknown quantity to him. He gave Chen an odd look. "Where are D.O. and Baekhyun? Are they ok?" His eyes narrowed as he tried to think. "And the one who went with him... Hoya?" 

Blinking at Kris, Chen sat down, stretching his legs out in front of him. "Baekhyun?" he asked, smiling faintly. "He and D.O. are making out in the park. Hoya's watching to make sure they make it back ok." 

"Baekhyun and D.O.?" Kai asked, a grin spreading across his tired face. "Making out in the park? It's about time..." He shook his head. "The only ones dumber than Luhan and Lay are those two, so maybe there's hope yet." 

"I wouldn't count on it," Tao muttered under his breath, shaking his head, but for a different reason. His friends were all idiots. "Are we going to get out of here, or what?" He was starting to get impatient and antsy, especially with Sehun's breakdown. It was only a matter of time before someone else broke, and he hoped it wasn't him. 

"D.O. finally gave up on trying to get Baek to notice him and just came out and kissed him," Chen smirked, then looked down. "So... What was up with Sehun?" 

Grinning, Kai looked towards the door thoughtfully. "Maybe someone should suggest it to Luhan when he's feeling better, since Lay isn't going to do anything. You know, since it worked so well for D.O...." His smile faded. "Sehunnie... I don't really know," he added, sighing as he glanced at Suho and Kris. "He just went crazy when Luhan and Lay were taken to Dongwoo's and he wasn't allowed to go with them." He shrugged uncomfortably. "It was weird." 

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed," Xiumin mumbled, rolling his eyes and then glancing at Chen, who definitely wouldn't meet his eyes, confirming his suspicions, at least as to where Chen's feelings lay. 

"Noticed what?" Kai blinked at Xiumin in confusion, even more baffled when Chen pointedly avoided everyone's eyes and looked determinedly at the floor. 

Xiumin huffed in exasperation. "Sehun is..." He pursed his lips, trying to think of how to put it. "He's extremely fond of Luhan. Seriously, you can't see it? Luhan sees him as a little brother, and Sehun would rather be something more than that. And doesn't understand why he's stuck in it." 

"Oh..." Kai looked thoughtful, then a little light bulb went off in his head and he nodded. "Ooooh, I know what you mean now. He's liked Luhan since forever." 

Tao smacked the back of Kai's head, making the younger man stumble forward and then glare at him. "What the hell, Kai?" he said scornfully, shaking his head and ignoring Kris' warning glance. "You're so slow on the uptake, I swear." 

He looked at Dongho. "I need to get out of here," he added, glaring right back at Kai. "I'm losing brain cells." 

"Shut up and go," Kai muttered, rubbing the back of his head. Tao hadn't exactly been gentle.

"Where do you want to go?" Dongho asked. "I can take you somewhere, if you want. But I think we're staying pretty close around here for now, just because your friends are resting." 

Tao glanced at Dongho, startled. "I don't know anywhere," he replied warily. "I don't know anything about your world." He sighed at the news that they were likely to be stuck there for a while longer. That wasn't helpful when they all really needed proper beds to sleep in, as well as food to eat. "Just anywhere, I guess, as long as it's safe." 

Dongho grinned. "Well, there's the park, but your friends are making out there, so we could try somewhere else?" He sobered. "Do you need something, some element that you have to recharge? We could aim for something like that, if so." 

Rolling his eyes, Tao shook his head. "They'll be a while then, unless Hoya makes them come back," he said wryly. "I... control time, so I don't have to recharge anything. I just need..." He looked a little frustrated, then sighed. "I just need space, something I won't get here..." 

Thinking for a moment, Dongho grinned. "The roof's open, if you want to go up there? I'll even stay away from you so you'll have privacy..." He waved at Soohyun to tell him they were going out and headed to the door. "So, the roof or the park? Where did you want to go?" 

Tao followed him out. "The roof, I think," he replied, already breathing easier now that he was out of that small room. The tension had eased when Soohyun had forced Sehun to sleep, but some still remained. They really needed a place of their own before they all went rather messily (and noisily) crazy. 

"The roof it is," Dongho said, pressing the call button for the elevator and glancing thoughtfully at Tao. "Are you claustrophobic?" 

Confused, Tao blinked at Dongho. "Claustrophobic?" he asked, starting to wonder. "I don't really know. Why?" 

Dongho blinked at him when the elevator opened, then laughed. "Sorry, you don't know the word? I just wondered because you seemed really... uncomfortable down there. Like you felt the walls were closing in on you or something." 

Shaking his head, Tao shrugged. "I know the word, I'm just not sure if I am or not," he said thoughtfully as the elevator rose. "I'm starting to wonder, myself." He carefully didn't mention the fact that some of them (including himself) had been captured and tortured in various ways; it was none of Dongho's business and hopefully they'd be able to deal with it on their own before it became a problem. 

"Ok," Dongho nodded. "I mean, I know things change, but... Never mind. You guys have been through a lot, and some things about you are bound to change, whether you realise it or not." 

Giving Dongho an odd look, Tao sighed. "You have no idea," he mumbled under his breath, shrugging. "I hope things change for the better..." 

Dongho nodded again. "I hope so too," he replied. The idea of them going crazy scared him, and he knew he didn't know everything. Not even remotely. 

Breathing deeply when the elevator finally reached the roof and the doors opened, Tao smiled, finally finding the peace he'd been desperate to find for so long that he'd despaired of ever reaching it. "Thanks," he breathed, surprised to find himself suddenly close to tears. "You have no idea how much I needed this." 

Grinning at the other man's reaction, Dongho followed Tao out of the elevator. "Good," he smiled. " So, do you want company, or do you prefer to be alone? I'm good either way and will stay out of your way if you want me to..." 

"I'd rather be alone, if that's ok with you?" Tao said, careful to keep his back to Dongho. He didn't want this stranger (or anyone, really) to see him cry. He'd been doing his best to be strong for the others, but it was hard on him, seeing as he was one of the youngest (and most powerful, power-wise) of his group. Relieved he now had a place to go to relieve his stress alone, he intended to take full advantage of it. 

"I don't mind," Dongho smiled softly, gesturing toward the opposite direction, away from Tao. "I'll be over there. Yell when you want to go back." He walked off across the rooftop and sat down on the edge, staring out over the skyline of Seoul. 

Walking until he couldn't see Dongho, Tao knelt on the hard concrete surface of the roof, curled in on himself, and began to cry softly, letting out all the pain, anger, and sadness that he'd kept inside, hidden from everyone. Sobbing until he gasped for breath, Tao felt crushed by the weight of his responsibilities, by the strangeness of this new world they'd found themselves a part of, and wondered if they were ever going to be able to survive here, let alone be able to go home. Waves of homesickness and grief washed over him, making him cry even more. He was too young for this. They all were, but none of them had been given any choice. 

Dongho glanced back once, the wind carrying the sound of Tao's crying over to him, but he didn't move. He'd promised him privacy, and would give him that. And suddenly he wasn't curious anymore about what could make someone like Tao cry like that.


End file.
